


This Haunted House

by Westward



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Case Fic, Developing Relationship, Exorcisms, F/M, Gen, Holy Water, Hurt Lucifer, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, POV Alternating, Post-Episode: s02e14 Candy Morningstar, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-01-13 06:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18463658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Westward/pseuds/Westward
Summary: The murder of an internet famous paranormal investigator leads Lucifer and Chloe to Los Angeles’ most haunted residence, working alongside priests who wish to bless the place from unseen spirits and supernatural evils.Somehow, this leads to an exorcism.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was supposed to be a one shot. Not supposed to be more than 10k at most. That had been the plan about three weeks ago. Now I'm fast approaching 23k and as much as I love the idea of posting this just once in its entirety, I also want to share this with y'all. It has taken all of my focus off of all my other works and WIPS, so hopefully I can finish this up soon so I can go back to those. 2nd chapter is also completed, but I want to be completely 100% done before I post it. I'm in the final stretch, I swear.

For the longest moment, Lucifer just sat there on the edge of the couch. He kept his gaze on the windows to his left, the blinds only partially blocking the view from outside. One of the windows was partially open, allowing for a warm but fresh breeze to waft through the air. He watched as dry leaves, not quite browning yet from the turn of summer to autumn, blow in the wind. Lucifer’s right knee was bouncing, his shoe hitting the room’s carpet flooring in a soft thudding pattern. He held his hands clasped together, the pads of his fingers were rubbing against his knuckles.

Sitting in front of Lucifer was Dr. Linda Martin, who was staring at him pensively. But she was nonetheless quiet as she waited for her patient to start today’s session. When Lucifer finally caught her curious gaze, his own eyes nervously shifted back towards the windows. He then heard the good doctor exhale a soft breath, and there was the soft scribbling of pen on paper. But he didn’t dare look at his therapist again. Instead, he looked at his watch.

They were barely three minutes into the session.  At this realization Lucifer huffed out a sigh of impatience. Time today was moving by much too slowly.

Finally Linda broke the silence. “Is there a reason why you didn’t want to come in today, Lucifer?”

Without turning to face her Lucifer answered the question. There was a hint of confusion in his voice. “What gave you that idea?”

“Well. Usually you’re not nervous like this.” Linda pointed out. She paused when Lucifer gave her a hard stare that was supposedly meant to say _I do not get nervous_. But after being the Devil’s therapist for over a year, Linda was far past being intimidated by him. “Yes, Lucifer. Nervous. Unless there’s something bothering you. Or... you’re trying to avoid something.”

As she thought out loud, Lucifer finally shifted in his seat to look at her. He did a little shake of his head which was meant to convey annoyance as he let out a loud breath. Judging by this new look he was giving her, Linda repressed a knowing smile. She had hit the nail right on the head. Linda pressed forward, knowing that Lucifer wasn’t about to open up without some more prodding from her.

“Does this have to do with Amenadiel? Or your mother?” Linda asked.

To which Linda earned a soft chuckle, but it sounded more annoyed than comical.

“Actually no, not this time. Amenadiel is off doing who-knows-what for dear old Mum. And Mum, well… I haven’t heard much from her in a few days, which does make me slightly on edge, because I know she must be planning something. Something big.” And there Lucifer went, beginning his ramblings like the good Doctor wanted him to do. He paused for a moment only to play with his ring, and it was only then that he brought his full attention onto Linda. “But that’s not why… that’s not why I’m ‘nervous’ today, Doctor. Not by a long shot. I can deal with family matters with both my hands tied behind my back. Have been for eons.”

“Oh?” Linda said, sounding interested. Or was that a hint of humor in her voice? Sometimes it was difficult to tell with her. “I didn’t know you thought it was that easy. Or is it because you’re the Devil, and you have a supernatural knack for getting out of bindings?”

And Lucifer cracked a grin at that, his reply full of wit. “You’re catching on quickly, Linda.”

“Yes I am. And I’m also fast to notice when you’re avoiding something you don’t want to talk about.” Linda stated. As usual, Linda was able to get to the heart of the problem. Lucifer dropped his smile, knowing that Linda had caught him trying to avoid this whole topic. “I can see something is bothering you, Lucifer. And as your therapist, I’m here to listen.”  

Lucifer paused for a moment, opening his mouth as if he was about to say something. But all that came out was a sigh. Still, Lucifer wasn’t quite ready to confront this situation, verbally or mentally.

After waiting for a solid minute for Lucifer to speak, Linda prodded further. “Does this have to do with Chloe?”

His attention snapped to his therapist immediately. Linda nodded to herself, a soft smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Quietly, Linda closed her notebook and set it down on the glass coffee table that separated them. Lucifer looked down at the closed notebook quickly before he straightened himself in his seat, messing with his cufflinks.

“As a matter of fact, it does.” Lucifer finally relented. “The Detective has invited me over for dinner. Tonight. As friends.”

“So… it’s not a date?” Linda asked, although there was a hint of skepticism in her words.

“It most certainly is _not_.” Lucifer clarified, that hint of impatience back in his voice. And now he was averting his gaze again. Another glance down at his watch. Seven minutes had passed. They still had 33 left for the session. “As much as she says otherwise, the Detective still hasn’t completely forgiven me about Vegas and Candy. Yes, we’re on speaking terms but… well. You know.”

“I _don’t_ know, Lucifer. Can you clarify things for me?”

“It’s just… it’s strange, Doctor. Why would the Detective want to invite me out for dinner? Why keep up this charade of being my friend if I had so totally broken her heart?” Lucifer wondered out loud. “After all that I did, I expected she would only want to keep things strictly professional between us. It would be in her best interests if she did. The more distance between us, the less she’ll be a pawn in Dad’s madly confusing game.”

“You still don’t think Chloe has free will?” Linda asked.

“I don’t believe she had a _choice_. Not when it’s Dad that’s fooling us both, playing with our emotions like a child with Play-Doh.” Lucifer answered. For who would willing choose to love a monster like him? No, whatever feelings the Deceive thought she had was just a tool dear old Dad was using to get Lucifer to do his bidding. And Lucifer would not allow for Chloe to be used as a tool. “So by inviting me over for dinner, it just tells me that all that I did to ensure she has a choice, it was pointless.”

“If you feel so strongly about this, why not just cancel?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not, Lucifer?”

Because he didn’t want to. Because he was being selfish. Because whatever feelings his Dad implanted into his head, or coerced him into feeling, Lucifer found he didn’t want them gone. Not entirely. Despite what happened, Lucifer didn’t want to lose the last of his remaining friendship with Chloe. One wrong move on his part and he could lose her forever.

At this realization, Lucifer clammed up. He didn’t want to voice his thoughts, because that would make this all too real. It would make his worries tangible, and much harder for him to avoid. Instead, Lucifer said something else. But that was also too close to the mark for comfort.

“I don’t want to hurt her further.” Lucifer said, almost whispering.

Lucifer looked up to Linda. He could see that the therapist was thinking long and hard, chewing her bottom lip as she did so. They sat in silence as she thought, and then Linda let out that sigh Lucifer was all too familiar with. It was that sigh that told him that he had lost Linda in his train of thought. That or he was missing something that she considered obvious.

“It’s also important that you shouldn’t want to hurt yourself either, Lucifer.” Linda finally spoke up.

“I’m not hurting myself, Doctor.” Lucifer said with a huff. “I’m taking the necessary precautions to ensure that we both get to have a life that we want to live.”

“But what if Chloe still wants you to be part of her life?”

And Lucifer was shaking his head, frowning sadly. That couldn’t happen; that was preposterous. The Detective had said it once, a long time ago: they were too different people. It was only now that Lucifer was starting to agree with her.

If God truly was a child playing with Play-Doh, then Lucifer could already see the result of him and Chloe continuing to pursue a relationship, platonic or otherwise: a mix of two completely contrasting colors, both equally vibrant. A brilliant blue against a pure orange. But now nothing more than a sickly, dull grey when meshed together.

Perhaps Lucifer had been hanging around the Detective’s spawn too often, now that he was referring to himself as a child’s plaything.

Thankfully, Linda shook Lucifer away from his thoughts.

“As your therapist, I should be saying that you need to stop thinking like this. That you have to stop avoiding second chances, as this will only make things harder in the long run.” Linda continued. “But as your friend, Lucifer, I want you to be happy. You need to find what makes you happy.”

“Aren’t you supposed to just tell me what makes me happy?” Lucifer argued.

And now it was Linda who was shaking her head. “Therapy doesn’t work like that. You should know this by now.”

Before Lucifer could answer her with a witty retort, there was the sound of a phone ringing. Lucifer felt a buzzing in his suit’s pocket, and he fished his phone out. Lucifer recognized the caller and opened his phone, receiving a very detailed text.

“And that, my dear Linda, was the Detective. It appears that ‘duty calls’. So I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut this one short.” Lucifer said as he pocketed his phone. Lucifer quickly stood up and flattened out his suit, making sure that it was all lying properly in place. He nodded to Linda as he opened her office’s door. “Same time next week?”

“Of course, Lucifer. And good luck with your not-dinner-date with Chloe.” Linda called out after him before he shut the door on him. And if he saw her smirking, Lucifer chose to ignore it.

* * *

Lucifer pulled up to the address that the Detective had texted him. As Lucifer turned off the ignition of the Corvette, he ended up doing a double take of the building. While certainly not the creepiest place they’ve found a body during his employment with the LAPD (that had to go to the case where they found severed limbs hanging off hooks in an abandoned butcher shop), it did give off certain “spooky Halloween” vibes. And it wasn’t even October yet.

It was definitely one of the older buildings of Los Angeles. It was an old three-story mansion, possibly built during the 1800’s. It felt like a place out of time. Someone had hung up several _Do Not Enter_ and _Posted Signs_ around the premises, but they looked faded with age. The mansion was surrounded by an old cast iron fence that was perhaps around six feet tall. The fence’s black paint was chipping off after decades of neglect, and the exposed metal was rusting. Behind the fence was an overgrown garden and front yard, long gone brown from lack of rainwater. It looked like this was also a favorite place to throw trash, as bottles and fast food containers littered the lawn.

The house itself was in a terrible state of disrepair. The siding’s white paint was chipping off, the exposed wood having gone grey when faced against the elements. There were a few words graffitied on the building; none looking like it was recently done. Windows were hazy from grime and age. Some windows even sported impressive spider cracks. The front door looked like it had been busted in, a forced entrance.

Surrounding the house was already an abundance of police vehicles. This half of the street was already taped off from the public. Lucifer spotted the Detective’s own squad car and realized that she must already be hard at work. Lucifer was quick to cross through the yellow crime scene tape and he made his way up towards the mansion.

Lucifer first found Ella with the victim, in one of the first rooms on the first floor. The body was turned on its side, facing an old decrepit fireplace that looked like it was currently housing a family raccoons. Tossed to the side was some filming and photographing equipment, visibly busted from falling from the victim’s hands. And far off into the corner, where the tilted floor was at its lowest elevation, sat a flashlight. The head of the flashlight was smashed, glass scattered around the floor.

“Our victim is Jake Sanchez, age 29.” Ella said as soon as Lucifer entered the building.  “Oh, hey Lucifer! Glad you can join us.”

Lucifer made his way over towards the forensic analyst, nodding to the Detective as she noticed his presence. The Detective was currently in work mod, as she only briefly glanced at him before she went back to taking pictures of their surroundings.

“Apologizes for my tardiness. I had an appointment this morning with dear Dr. Linda, Miss Lopez.” Lucifer said as he stepped over the body’s legs to stand next to the Detective. He then turned to face her, momentarily trying to get a gauge on the Detective’s mood at the moment. “And traffic, as usual, was Hell.”

The Detective didn’t even notice his curious gaze, but she nodded in understand. “That’s a long drive from Beverly Hills. Anyways. Ella, continue.”

Ella nodded her head and brought her gloved hands down back on the body as she explained her findings. “From what I see, I can safely say that cause of death was strangulation. Take a look at these bruises around his throat. Judging by the size and patterns of the markings… our attacker is definitely male. Or a woman with some serious man hands. And I’m talking about _gigantic_ man hands here.”

“Never judge a woman by their hands, Miss Lopez.” Lucifer offhandedly commented. “You never know what they can do in bed.”

“Don’t finish that thought, please.” The Detective said, it sounding more like an order than a plea of mercy.

Still, Lucifer could see Ella smiling as she finished her report. “But there are some signs that our boy here didn’t go down without a struggle.”

The two bent down to Ella’s level as she ran her hands down Jake’s arms, where there was some noticeable bruises, as well as a pair of deep scratch marks that ran from his wrist up to his elbow. Ella then rolled up the victim’s black hoodie, and Lucifer could see that there were even larger bruises that marked the man’s stomach and torso.

“Whoever killed him might also be sporting some ugly bruises, Decker.” Ella said as she placed the hoodie back down. “And I think that’s skin under his fingernails, so we might be lucky about getting some DNA after the autopsy.”

“Have any idea about the time of death?”  The Detective asked.

“Yeah. Based on current body heat and rigor mortis, this dude was killed about 8 hours ago, so…” And here, Ella checked her watch. “Around 2 to 3 am.”

Lucifer frowned. “Not really the best time to check prime real-estate if you ask me, Detective. Not that I would start here; the place is a dump.”

“And not to mention that this property is off limits.” Chloe said with a nod of her head. “It’s been state owned ever since the 40’s.”

“Yeah, the place has a dark history.” Ella added nonchalantly as she gathered her equipment off the floor. When she noticed Lucifer’s confused look, Ella just shrugged and motioned all around. “This is the Oswald-Penning Mansion? You know, the site of Los Angeles’ most gruesome mass murder? Come on, Lucifer! You’ve been here longer than I have and you haven’t heard of this place? It’s right up your alley, too!”

Dan suddenly made his entrance, coming down the nearby staircase. The squeaking of the ancient floorboards announced his presence, as they groaned in protest of his weight. He must have gone up to do a quick preliminary search of the surroundings, looking to see if the assailant was still here. He must have caught the tail end of Ella’s sentence, because he let out a long whistle and shook his head.

“Yeah, the story goes that the nanny and the husband had an affair. And when the wife caught word of it, she publicly humiliated the other woman. And in a fit of rage, the nanny killed the entire residence in their sleep before taking her own life.” Dan supplemented.

Ella nodded and continued. “Three kids, both parents, and the other two staff that lived on the premises. Now I don’t know if this is true or not; it might just be folklore or Hollywood bullshit. But apparently the wife woke up just in time to watch her youngest children killed, and the two ended up fighting to the death.”

“You know, this does sound familiar…” Lucifer finally said.

“That’s because they made a movie out of it in the 90’s. _Miss Virginia: The Nanny from Hell”_ Dan said. “A classic B-rated horror film. It held the record for most fake blood used in a single scene for six years.”

“Oh yes I’ve seen that!” Lucifer said, a grin spreading across his face when recognition finally hit. “Although, I believe that the director probably did take a few liberties with the story. My knowledge of human history is a bit spotty at times, but I don’t think that—”

“Guys, let’s try to show some respect here.” Chloe finally said, motioning towards the dead body in front of them. Her serious tone of voice quickly ended the conversation once and for all, reminding the three of them that they had work to do.  “Let’s take a sweep of the surroundings before meeting back at the station.”

Chloe was quick to divide up the workload. Ella would head back to the station with the first series of tagged evidence to begin the documentation process. Dan went back up the stairs, this time grabbing one of the forensic team’s cameras for documentation. The Detective motioned for Lucifer to follow her, and he did so with a nod of his head. The two partners headed further into the first floor of the old mansion, leaving behind the sounds of the busy street.

There wasn’t much in the mansion. The place had obviously been abandoned after the murders over half a century ago. What was left was basically a skeleton of a story. Many of the rooms were left eerily empty, and any of the furniture that had been left behind had long since decayed, metal framework poking through disintegrating fabrics. This place felt like it belonged more in the forgotten woods of Pennsylvania’s back countries instead of the heart of LA.

As Lucifer and the Detective entered the kitchen they were greeted with an old style fridge with its door hanging open, the stove knocked over to its side, and scattered remains of a fine china dish set. As Lucifer bent down to inspect the shattered pieces of porcelain, he noticed that they were faded from exposure to sun, and all were covered in a fine layer of dust. Not relevant to the investigation then.

Lucifer stood back up to see that the Detective was opening up the cupboards to inspect whatever was inside of them. As she opened up one of the cupboard doors, there was the sound of movement inside. Suddenly a burst of feathers escaped, and Detective ducked from the sudden appearance of a pigeon. Lucifer watched as the poor thing panicked, running into the far corners of the ceiling before finding the open door they had come through. Lucifer watched it finally make its great escape, and he frowned as his attention was drawn somewhere else.

The Detective had noticed it too. She let out a sad sigh as she turned on her flashlight and shone it on the wall. Against the faded yellow wallpaper was a visible trail of blood splatter. It was definitely not recent, as it was dark, almost black in coloration. Lucifer turned his attention back to the ground. He swept against the broken porcelain with one foot, only to reveal a large dark stain against the old linoleum.

Chloe had seen it too. Her words were hollow from shock. “This place has a dark history. I can almost feel it.”

For once, Lucifer agreed with her, nodding his head silently. He felt it too.

Wordlessly, the two left the kitchen to search through the remaining rooms. Their search almost ended with them empty handed, but the last room proved to be lucky. In the far corner of what must have been a private library, the two found what looked like Sanchez’s set up. Set on the old desk was a laptop set open but with a dead battery. Beside it was a secondary camera, visually similar to the one found next to Sanchez. And lastly, there was a small cooler that had a piece of duct tape on its lid with the words _Dinner only, asshole! –Dusty_ , written on it. Curiosity got the better of Lucifer and he opened up the cooler, only to find two ham sandwiches wrapped in saran wrap, an apple, small bag of potato chips, and a now warm can of Dr. Pepper.

“Looks like our trespasser was here for the night.” Chloe said as she began to bag and process the laptop.

“Yes, and I don’t think he was alone.” Lucifer asked, holding up the cooler’s lid for the Detective to see. Chloe came over to stand by him, peeking into the cooler. She was frowning as she thought. “I guess the question now is who is Dusty?”

“They’re probably someone close to our victim, or our main suspect.” The Detective answered as she held the bagged laptop underneath her arm. “We need to get both of these to Ella.”

The trip back down to the station was quick. Lucifer was thankful that he had driven himself today, because he wasn’t quite ready to be alone with the Detective. That would give either of them the opportunity to bring up their supposed dinner-not-date. Lucifer didn’t want to know if Chloe was second guessing her offer (she ought to be), and Lucifer didn’t want to accidentally bring it up if she was. And if they didn’t talk about it, then there was the slight possibility that it would actually happen.

Which was good. Or bad.

Honestly, all these conflicting human emotions were too confusing for Lucifer.

By the time that Lucifer and the Detective reconvened at the station, Ella and Dan were already in the lab, discussing their findings. The white board was already set up, processed crime photos taped up with hastily written details scrawled underneath them. The Dan and Ella noticed the two as they approached, and Chloe set the bagged laptop and the cooler on the counter before turning to them.

“Okay, found anything yet?” The Detective asked.

Ella nodded her head. “Okay, I didn’t mention anything at the crime scene because I wasn’t positive, but I did some digging. And get this: our victim is a famous ghost hunter on Wobble.”

Here, Ella turned to her lab computer and brought up a tab to Wobble. She quickly typed in the victim’s name into the search bar. Both Chloe and Lucifer came in closer to look at the videos that had popped up. And there he was in the thumbnail. Jake Sanchez, esteemed internet celebrity ghost hunter. He was obviously posing for the photo, a fake scream plastered on his face as he held a camera defensively. Beside him was a superimposed smoky green cartoon ghost with a menacing smile. The title of the video was: _Demonic Presence in Abandoned Disney Warehouse?!_

“Whoa, how did he get that many views?” Dan asked, pointing a finger at the view count. It was over 4 million.

“I have no idea, because this is obviously fake.” Lucifer said with a huff. Soon all heads were turned to face him, which confused Lucifer. “What?”

It was Dan who answered. “I thought with your whole Devil shtick, you’d be a believer in ghosts and hauntings.”

And Ella was nodding as well. “Yeah, it’d go great with your method acting.”

Lucifer almost couldn’t believe this. He wordlessly turned to the Detective for support, but only found that she was visibly trying not to smile at the antics. And she was failing. As she brought a hand to cover her mouth to hide a grin. Lucifer opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, the Detective was shaking her head.

“Sorry Lucifer, I kind of agree with them. Why _don’t_ you believe in this stuff?” Chloe asked for clarification. “It does kind of seem to be in your wheelhouse.”

“Because I know it’s _fake_. All of it is fake. There’s no such thing as ‘demonic possessions’. It’s physically impossible for demons to occupy a human body, not to mention that the only demon currently on earth is Mazikeen.” Lucifer said, surprised to hear that his tone of voice sounded short and temperamental.  “And any human souls lost after death would be promptly found by my sister Azrael.”

His explanation was met with a short period of silence as the others took it all in. For a brief moment, Lucifer thought that they believed him. And then Dan let out a huff of air as he shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Wow, who knew that the Devil himself would be a non-believer?” Dan muttered under his breath, obviously intended to not be heard by anyone, but Lucifer could.

“Are _you_ a believer, Daniel?” Lucifer asked accusingly, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

“Hey, sometimes things go bump in the night that can’t be explained.” Dan said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Yes, and usually it’s just squirrels in the walls.” Lucifer retorted.

Sensing that the argument would only continue, growing into a shouting match between the two men’s inflated egos, Chloe coughed to catch their attention. Once Chloe was certain that the two men had been reigned in, she turned to Ella.

“You clearly know more about the victim than the rest of us, Ella.” The Detective said as she motioned for Ella to take the floor.

Ella nodded before she begun. “Well, yeah. I’ve watched a couple of his videos when he started gaining some traction. You know, out of curiosity. And then I just… kept watching.”

“So you’re a fan.” Chloe deadpan stated.

Ella smiled meekly.

“Uh… guilty as charged. Sorry Lucifer. Anyway his show is called _The Ghoul Guys_ . The show is focused mostly on _supposedly_ ,” here Ella glanced at Lucifer hesitantly, “haunted places in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Sometimes they head up to northern California, but they never do anything out of state.

“He and his co-host are known for mostly breaking and entering into abandoned places to catch evidence of the supernatural. That’s actually one of their biggest selling points; their most watched videos are ones where they’re actually caught and detained by the police. They even have a Patreon set up just to have money on hand to get themselves out on bail.”

“Who’s Sanchez’s co-host?” Chloe asked.

“He’s had multiple. His first was his younger brother, Damien. But the dude was _very_ camera shy, so after the first couple episodes he moved to a more of an editor position.” Ella explained. “His longest running co-host was Randy McElroy, an old college friend of his. But he stopped around a year ago when he wanted to settle down with his girlfriend. Not to mention when the threat of felonies for trespassing started to endanger his chance for a more stable day job.”

“So who’s his current co-host?” Dan asked.

“That would be Dustin Weatherly. He’s not really a fan favorite, but their view counter hasn’t really dipped since his introduction.” Ella said. “Most of the fans just watch for Jake, anyways.”

At this, Chloe perked up. “Dustin? Does he ever go by Dusty?”

Ella was nodding her head. “Yeah, that’s Jake’s nickname for him. I’m actually surprised that Dusty wasn’t with him last night.”

It was here that Lucifer and Chloe shared a knowing look. Both were thinking about the cooler that they had found.

“Or he was.” Chloe said. “We need to find him.”

* * *

Now that the evidence was all gathered up, now came that small waiting period before new leads popped up. Still, there was work to do. Their first priority was alerting Jake Sanchez’s family of his death. So far they only knew of his brother Damien. It was a good place to start.

Chloe noticed that Lucifer wasn’t his usual boisterous self pretty early in the drive to Damien Sanchez’s apartment. They had been partners for over a year by now, and Chloe liked to think that she could read Lucifer more easily that he thought she could. Yes, there were certainly things that still confused her. Still some things he refused to share with her, despite claiming to be an “open book”. Still some things that drove her crazy.

But Chloe could understand nerves. And right now, Lucifer looked ready to bolt from the squad car as soon as they reached their destination. He was even averting his gaze from her.

Chloe knew that something was obviously bothering him. But she knew if she brought it up, she risked making her partner even more skittish. She shook her head at the thought, a smile tugging at her lips: the so called Devil, skittish. And before she could stop herself, Chloe’s imagination went running wild. In her mind sat the Devil, with sharp horns and a pointed tail, spiked pitchfork in hands, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Impossible.

Somehow Chloe suppressed a laugh. But that only made her acutely aware to Lucifer’s own sullen mood.

Chloe decided to ignore Lucifer’s unnatural silence, but as the awkward tension in the car grew, she finally relented.

“Okay. Spit it out, Lucifer.” Chloe said with a sigh. “What’s wrong?”

It took Lucifer a moment to respond. “Nothing of great importance, at the moment, Detective.”

“Uh huh.” Chloe said, doubt laced within her voice.

Chloe allowed a few more seconds to see if Lucifer would open up to her on his own volition. When he did not, she pressed further.

“Look, is this about dinner tonight?” Chloe asked.

She took her eyes off the road just for a moment to gauge his reaction.  And a good thing she did, because she just barely saw Lucifer glance at her, his shoulders held stiff as he caught his breath. He knew he had been caught. Chloe raised an eyebrow as she returned her attention to the road.

“Lucifer, if you don’t want to come, I’m not going to force you.” Chloe said.

Lucifer started with a sigh. “Detective, it’s not that I don’t want to share your company tonight. I do. I honestly do. But… don’t you think it’s a bit early after… after everything that’s happened?”

“You mean when you fled to Las Vegas after my poisoning scare and married Candy?” Chloe said, saying it more as a statement than a question.

“Exactly.”

“Lucifer, I’ve already told you many times that I’ve forgiven you.”

Even if she was still very upset with him deep down. Chloe couldn’t deny to herself that Lucifer had hurt her. And he had seemed to be completely oblivious of how his actions affected her. But that was just Lucifer being Lucifer. He had been like that ever since they met one another. She couldn’t fault him for that.

Chloe was trying to move forward. And after some heavy thought, and some much needed space away from Lucifer, this seemed like the only way they could. Not as… whatever they were after that kiss on the beach. But as friends.

Chloe paused as she tried what words to say next, knowing that this was risky territory. “Lucifer, maybe what happened last month was good for us.”

That seemed to surprise him, as he snapped his head to look at her. From the corner of her eyes, she could see his confused expression, mouth hanging slightly ajar. Whatever he had expected her to say, it wasn’t this.

“It was?” He asked, voice thick with confusion.

“I mean, maybe? I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud, Lucifer.” Chloe said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her next words came out far softer than she intended. “We’re just… we’re completely different people. How could we ever work out as a couple? You’re you, and I’m… well, I’m me.”

Lucifer was a smooth talker, a charmer, Sex on Legs and desire personified. He was the poster boy for what people wanted when they first come to Los Angeles. In this cut-throat city, where one wrong word could end a career, Lucifer had come out on top as a winner. And Chloe was a divorced single mother, a cop that was just getting by on a living wage. She was by the book; and in Lucifer’s own words ‘a bit of a buzzkill’.

For a brief moment, Chloe allowed herself to think about what would have happened if they could somehow work it out. And she couldn’t quite picture Lucifer staying by her side in a monogamous relationship, raising Trixie by her side. It felt too surreal, like Chloe could only see it happen in a dream. One where she would wake up instantly from just the absurdity of it.

No. Chloe realized that they were opposites. But instead of attracting one another, they just destroyed each other.

But still, Chloe didn’t want to lose Lucifer as a friend.

“Detective, you’re…” Whatever Lucifer was going to say, it had caught in his throat. The sentence hung there in the air awkwardly. He took a second to recollect himself. “There is nothing wrong with you.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with you, either.” Chloe said forcefully.  “No, I don’t think we’d work as a couple. We found that out the hard way.” Chloe certainly found it through heartbreak and nights spent crying alone in bed after his return from Vegas, wondering why she was inferior. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

This was met with silence again. Chloe glanced back at Lucifer again. Now his gaze was down towards his feet, hands clasped together tightly. He was playing with his ring absentmindedly. Lucifer showed no intention of answering her.

Chloe briefly wondered if this conversation did more harm than good. No matter, it was too late to change it now.

“Look… you don’t have to come tonight if you don’t want to. I was just planning on making burgers.” Chloe finally said. “I’ll set a place at the table for you, but you don’t have to feel obligated to come. It’s your decision, Lucifer.”

And that was the end of that conversation.

Ten minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot of Damien Sanchez’s apartment complex. It was a nicer apartment complex, if on the edge between a poor neighborhood and a wealthier one. Before Chloe had found her current residence, she had looked at places similar to this one. Damien’s apartment was on the fourth floor, and without an elevator, the two partners walked up the stairs in silence.

When Chloe knocked on the door, it opened to reveal a young dark skinned man with a short afro. He was wearing an old, thin band t-shirt that read _Depeche Mode,_ as well as a pair of pajama pants with a garden gnome pattern. The man let out a yawn, obviously just climbing out of bed despite the fact that it was well past noon. Chloe elbowed Lucifer even before he let out a snort in response to the man’s ridiculous outfit.

“Yeah? Can I help you?” The man asked, his voice deep.

Chloe pulled at her jacket to flash her badge. “I’m Detective Decker with the LAPD, this is my partner Lucifer Morningstar. Is this the residence of Damien Sanchez?”

This earned Chloe a very confused look from the man, and she watched as it slowly transformed into concern. The man turned back into the apartment, cupping a hand over his mouth to shout inside.

“Damien? You better come here.” The man shouted.

“Who are you, exactly?” Lucifer finally spoke up.

“I’m Sean. Shawn Dalton, Damien’s boyfriend.” The man, Shawn, answered.

It was then that another man came into view from the doorframe. He looked like a younger version of their victim; perhaps he was a bit of a lighter build, and his hair was long enough to be tied into a messy man bun. The man, most likely Damien, was just as appropriately dressed as Shawn, wearing a thin, patchy t-shirt and boxers. One arm was completely covered with a sleeve of tattoos. When he finally noticed Chloe’s presence, he ducked back into the room he came out form. He reappeared shortly after, this time wearing a pair of jeans which he was zipping up as he stepped forward.

“Who is it, Shawn?” Damien asked, his voice still croaky from sleep, or from a lack of it.

“It’s the police.” Shawn answered.

“The police?” Damien sounded confused. He approached them, taking both Chloe and Lucifer’s hands in a quick shake before crossing his arms. “Is something wrong, officers?”

Chloe braced herself; this was always the hardest part of her job. “Damien Sanchez? Do you mind if we come in for a minute. There’s something you need to know.”

Damien still looked confused, but it seemed he heard the severity in Chloe’s voice. He knew that something was wrong. Wordlessly, Damien frowned but nodded his head. Both he and Shawn moved from the doorframe and led the two partners into their small apartment.

The place was a wreck, more fitting for a frat house after a party than two men in their late 20’s. There were dirty clothes everywhere, and on the coffee table next to the couch was an old cardboard pizza box. Scattered around the living area were empty beer bottles. The flat screen mounted on the wall across from the couch was still on, the Blu-ray’s screensaver currently playing.

“Sorry for the mess. We had a movie marathon last night. All the Star Wars movies. We passed out around 5 this morning.” Damien said as he picked up the beer bottles. “Have a seat on the couch.”

Chloe and Lucifer did as they were asked, both sitting on the edge of the couch politely. Shawn grabbed the old pizza box and placed it with a pile of recyclables in their small kitchen. Both men returned, taking a chair each from their small dinner table and sitting across from Chloe and Lucifer, the coffee table acting as a barrier.

Chloe waited for both men to get comfortable before she spoke up. “Damien Sanchez. I’m sorry to inform you that your brother Jake was found deceased around 9 o’clock this morning.”

She paused, watching as the information started to set in. She watched, doing her best to keep her face as emotionless as possible as Damien’s own face contorted from confusion, to denial, and then to grief. Damien sucked in a deep breath as he brought both hands to cover his face. Tears were already starting to form at the corners of his dark brown eyes.

Shawn was quick to place a comforting hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder, and he soon dropped it to his back, where Chloe could barely see that he was rubbing his back in soothing circles. Shawn was looking quite torn up as well, his face grim, but the mask cracked as a large tear rolled down his cheek. Shawn turned to Chloe and Lucifer.

“Are you sure? Are you sure that it’s Jake?” Shawn asked.

Chloe was already nodding when Lucifer answered. “We’re certain of it, I’m afraid.”

After swallowing the tears, Damien spoke up again. His voice was weak and threatened to break. “How… how did he..?”

Chloe shared a concerned look with Lucifer. She didn’t want to go into too many details, afraid she would upset the young man further. “We suspect that there’s foul play involved. Do you know if Jake had any enemies, or if he had any arguments with someone recently?”

At that, Damien scoffed, uncaring that tears were visibly streaming down his cheeks now. He reached for the tissue box that sat in the middle of the coffee table, dabbing at his eyes. Beside him, Chloe caught the stiff nod that Shawn gave before running the back of his hand under his nose.

“Who _didn’t_ Jake argue with?” Damien said with a shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders. “My brother isㅡwas a bit of an asshole. He was very good at rubbing people the wrong way. Although that was part of his charm on camera.”

“Can you think of anyone recently? Anything you can think of can help us find whoever did this.” Chloe pressed further.

And for a brief moment, Damien shared a quick look with Shawn. Chloe caught it, and she pulled out her small notebook to take down any names the two men could give her.

“Well,” Shawn started, “There’s Dustin, his co-host on _The Ghoul Guys_.”

Here Chloe and Lucifer shared a knowing look. Lucifer shifted his position,  bending over to speak up.

“I take it being the guys from _The Ghoul Guys_ wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.” Lucifer commented. “Supernatural trouble in paradise, I assume?”

Damien nodded. “When Randy left the show last summer, we were in a bad state. Financially speaking I mean. Jake kept breaking into places, and the cops just kept arresting him.” Here, Damien pointedly looked at Chloebut there was no malice in his stare. Just emotional exhaustion. “The charges were starting to add up, and we couldn’t afford a lawyer at the time. We needed someone that could help us out…”

Shawn finished with a sigh. “And that was Dusty. Some kid who from a rich family. He was a fan of a show and knew a lot about ghosts and seances. They weren’t in any position to say no to the offered help.”  

“How long has he been on the show?” Chloe asked for clarification.

“Almost a year now.” Damien answered.

“So, good ol’ Dusty’s money was good, but he wasn’t.” Lucifer said. “So you were using him?”

Damien shook his head. “Not at all. He was part of the team, part of all the decision making. Yeah, I’ll admit that he’s a little annoying, but he’s the one that finds all the good spots to investigate.”

“So what didn’t you like about him?” Lucifer pressed, keeping his eyes on Damien. He wasn’t technically doing his mojo thing, but Chloe could certainly tell he was trying to charm the answers out of the man. “There must have been something that happened between the three of you if both of you obviously didn’t care for him.”

“I mean… _The Ghoul Guys_ was Jake’s show.” Damien said with a sigh. “He put everything into it. He argued with our parents when they didn’t support him, and he dropped out of college to get it up and running. And when Dusty came on, there was this tension between the two. Dusty wanted to share the spotlight, but Jake wasn’t willing to share.”

“And he always made it a point to remind Damien and Jake who paid for everything. Dusty always took every opportunity to act like the spoiled brat he was.” Shawn pointed out, his tone of voice implying all that he thought about the man. “On camera, the two could get along just fine. But it was an act. Off camera, when did those two _not_ butt heads?”

There was a pause as Damien let out a stiff sob, breaking down again. The sound shattered the apartment, stunning the three others into silence. Chloe kept her eyes low as she tried to give Damien a sense of privacy as he collected himself again.

“Do you think… do you think that Dusty could have done this?” Damien finally asked, his voice wet with tears.

Chloe paused as she thought. Slowly she was starting to get a clearer picture. Two people that obviously didn’t like one another working in close proximity to one another. Tension with financial difficulties and inflated personalities. But they only had words to go on, despite how Chloe’s gut was telling her this was the right lead.

They just had to get evidence to support this now.

Chloe kept her voice steady as she answered the question. “We can’t say for sure at this point of the investigation. But Damien, we need any access to the show’s business records. They might help us if Dusty is involved somehow.”

There was a moment as Damien thought about her request. And then he nodded his head. Damien stumbled to get to his feet, and then he made his way towards the bedroom on the other side of the apartment. A few minutes passed, and then Damien returned with a small USB drive. He handed it over to Chloe before sitting next to Shawn again.

“That has all the business information. Passwords, emails, important documents.” And then Dustin let out a small chuckle out of desperation. “Jake would kill me if he knew I was willingly handing this over to the police.” When he noticed Chloe’s questioning glance, he waved it away. “Nothing illegal, well, except for the trespassing. Jake was just one to keep stuff secret.

“Thank you, Damien.” Chloe said.

And with that, she stood up from her seat on the couch. With the USB in her hand, it could prove to be insurmountable to their investigation. She needed to get it back to Ella, pronto. They’d also have to put out a BOLO for Dustin Weatherly. It was time that they asked him a few questions.

As Chloe made her way to the apartment’s door, she turned around, expecting Lucifer to be just behind her. However, she was surprised that he was still sitting on the sofa. Chloe watched him as Lucifer observed the two boyfriends. Slowly, Lucifer stood up and straightened himself out.

And then Chloe heard him speak, his words low and almost inaudible from this distance. “We’ll find your brother’s killer and bring him to justice. I promise you that.”

It was Shawn who answered. “Thank you, Mr. Morningstar.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Do you have anything yet, Ella?” The Detective asked as they entered into the forensic lab.

Ella nodded her head as she turned down the music she was listening to. Her back was turned to them, and she moved to the side for Lucifer and the Detective to see that she had been hunched over the laptop they found back at the crime scene. It was powered back on, and it looked like there was a video editing software running on the screen. Ella motioned to the laptop with wide arms before she began.

“Not a lot, but yeah. It looks like this was Jake’s personal computer. There’s a lot of unfinished videos of future episodes on here. But that’s beside the point. What’s really interesting here is the documents and stuff Jake kept on here.” Ella said.

Ella turned her attention back onto the laptop and she opened up a new tab. She typed away on the computer, her fingers clicking away at the somewhat annoyingly loud keys. Lucifer leaned over her shoulder, curious to see what the good ghost hunter kept on there.

“It looks like our dead guy was interested in the future of his show. I mean, yeah, that makes sense from a business standpoint.” Ella said as she brought up Jake’s personal email.

She scrolled through the emails before she got to one that was starred. Ella opened it up, and the three of them were met with a very official looking email from the Travel Channel. Lucifer quickly scrolled through the the written text, his eyes only skimming through it. But it was enough to understand what this email entailed.

_Jake Sanchez,_

_We look forward to our future partnership with_ The Ghoul Guys _…_ blah blah blah… _Please meet with us on Wednesday the 25th at our Los Angeles offices to finalize the contracts and benefits…_ more business lingo _… let us know in advance if anything changes with our agreements._

“So our victim was moving from the internet to television. That’s quite a jump.” The Detective said as he continued reading, nodding her head along as she did so. There was a pause as the Detective was obviously thinking, sorting through all the evidence  they had collected so far. “Ella, I need you to check to see if this email is on this thumb drive.”

Lucifer watched as the Detective pulled the USB out of her pocket and into Ella’s waiting hand. Lucifer then turned to give the Detective an inquisitive look.

“What are you thinking, dear Detective?”

“I have a hunch that Jake didn’t want anyone else from seeing this. Remember what Damien said, he liked keeping things secret. And that this show was like his child.” The Detective thought out loud. She then pointed to the email that was still on the screen. “And look, this is directed to Jake Sanchez, not the entire team. Something isn’t adding up.”

Chloe and Lucifer waited as Ella turned to the lab’s computer. She plugged the USB drive into the port and quickly sorted through the throngs of new documents that suddenly popped up on the screen. Ella hummed to herself, obviously the song that she had been listening to when the two partners had first arrived, as she clicked through the documents with lightning speed.

As she did so, she commented. “Looks like Jake had a lot of the same documents on his computer. But there’s some missing here.”

Ella quickly turned and grabbed the laptop off of the counter and placed it next to her computer. She scanned through them as Lucifer and the Detective waited. After a few minutes, Ella was nodding as she turned to face Chloe.

“Looks like your hunch was right, Chlo.” Ella said. “That email is nowhere on the USB drive, along with some other documents. All of them seem to be connected with the Travel Channel somehow. Give me an hour to sort through the documents and I’ll what I can find. Although from what it looks like, it looks like Jake was going behind the others’ backs.”

“I wonder if dear old Dusty found out about this.” Lucifer muttered. He turned to the Detective. “From what we’ve heard, he doesn’t seem like the kind of chap who likes secrets.”

“Good point. Thanks, Ella.” Chloe said with a smile as she nodded her head. “Any word from the medical examiner yet?”

“Dan’s handling that side of the evidence. Let me see if he texted me anything new.”

“No need.” Lucifer suddenly stated. He was peering out through the glass door, pulling aside the blinds. “Our dear Detective Daniel seems to be on his way right now.”

Sure enough, Dan was currently hurrying down the station’s steps, a manila folder in his hands. He brushed by Lucifer as he entered the room, turning right to the Detective. He extended the manila folder over to her. She quickly turned to look through the pages as Dan began.

“Skin under our victim’s fingernails matches a Dustin Lucas Weather, who was previously arrested for trespassing. _And_ for fighting the officer who was called to the scene.” Dan explained, motioning to the manila folder that was still in the Detective’s hands. “All of his info is already in the system.”

Chloe was nodding as she read through the files. She looked up at Dan, and then to Lucifer. “This is good. We have enough to bring him in.” She then sighed. “Now all we need to do is find him.”

* * *

 

Two hours later they finally managed to get a hit. Dustin Weatherly had been recently spotted entering St. Thomas’s Downtown Cathedral. It wasn’t even that far from the police station, as it was within a comfortable walking distance. Sometimes when Lucifer and the Detective went out to get lunch with Dan and Ella, they would pass by the place.

By then it was after 3.  The school day was almost done, so Dan had left to pick up Trixie. He promised to drop Trixie off at the Detective’s apartment for Maze to watch before heading right back to work. During that time, the Detective and Lucifer would bring Dustin back to the station to see if they could wrangle a confession out of him. And really, a confession was all they needed at this point to put the man behind bars.

Not even ten minutes after getting the hit, Lucifer and the Detective were entering the establishment.

It seemed like ever since Lucifer moved to LA, his ratio for entering churches of his own volition has skyrocketed. He went from eons of not entering his Father’s holy sanctuaries, to just a month ago joining Miss Lopez for an evening sermon. Briefly Lucifer glanced up at the cloudless sky; he wondered if his Father had gotten a kick out of that. There he was, the rebellious son sitting (somewhat) quietly, listening to his stepbrother’s supposed teachings. Oh, the things Lucifer did for his friendship with Miss Lopez.

However, Lucifer tried not to think of it like that. Instead he viewed it more as a sick joke that only he was in on. Here he was, the Devil, freely walking into a building that humans believed he couldn’t enter. At least not without burning into flames. Lucifer couldn’t hide the smirk that tugged at his lips at the thought of what priests would do if they ever truly discovered him. And when the Detective caught sight of him, she gave him a shake of her head. But she was smiling; she must be thinking along the same lines.

“Lucifer, please behave.” The Detective said. But she said it with a smile.

“Detective.” Lucifer said with a sarcastic gasp. He brought a hand up to his chest to further the act.  “You wound me. I would never.”

“You would never ignore an order I give you, or you would never behave?” The Detective teased.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he only gave the Detective one of his charming smiles and winked. She gave him a slight eye roll before she opened the thick heavy wooden doors that led into the interior of the small city chapel. The interior was modest, and similar enough to Father Frank’s own establishment that it made Lucifer slightly anxious. Lucifer quickly suppressed those thoughts, choosing to ignore them.

The church itself was mostly empty, save for a few patrons that had found spots to sit and quietly pray in the numerous pews. Small stained glass windows brought in light from outside, picturing biblical scenes. In the corner, a confession booth was currently in use. However, before the Detective and Lucifer could make their way over there, the door opened to reveal it was a woman in her mid 40’s.

A few moments later, an aging man wearing the priest gettup came out. Chloe nudged Lucifer before making her ways towards the man. The priest noticed the two of them as they approached. He gave them a kind smile and nodded his head in greeting.

“Hello, I’m Father Louis. How may I help you today?” The priest asked with a soft spoken voice, looking from the Detective and then to Lucifer.

“Father Louis. I’m Detective Chloe Decker with the LAPD, this is my partner Lucifer Morningstar.”

At the mention of his name, the priest’s kind smile faltered. The older man’s brows creased into a frown as he stared at Lucifer. Lucifer responded with a deceptively friendly smile and winked, knowing fully well that he was antagonizing the priest. However, Chloe noticed and quickly backhanded his chest, glaring at her partner. Her eyes told it all: _behave_.

Lucifer would apologize to the Detective, but the Devil just couldn’t help himself. Priests sometimes made it all too easy to get under their skin.

The Detective continued. “I apologize for my partner’s _attitude problem_ , but I need to ask you a few questions that might help us solve a murder we’re investigating.”

“Your partner’s choice for a name is a mockery the Lord. And to be here in His house, as well...” Father Louis said disdainfully, and somewhat harsh as well. He then let out a long, heavy sigh. “Fine, if you must. Go on Detective, what would you like to know?”

“Father, we’re looking for this man.” Chloe paused as she pulled out a picture of Dustin; it was a mugshot from a previous arrest. Dustin was a few years younger in the photo, but hopefully still recognizable. “He’s out main suspect, and we have reason to believe he’s recently been to your church.”

Father Louis reached out to grab at the photo and studied it closely. He then handed it back over to the Detective and nodded his head. His expression was solemn.

“Yes, he’s here, Detective. However, he came here seeking sanctuary, so we offered it.” Father Louise explained.

“Wow. I didn’t even know you fellows still do that. Thought that practice was dropped after the renaissance.” Lucifer commented. He then turned to the Detective with a questioning expression. “Can the church do that? Legally speaking I mean.”

And the Detective was shaking her head before he even finished. “No, you can’t. Father Louis, you’re going to have to cooperate with us and take us to Dustin Weatherly at once.”

The look on Father Louis’ face made it clear that he rather wouldn’t. But nonetheless the priest motioned towards the back of the church, and he lead the two partners into the back offices. Once Father Louis closed the door that separated the public space of the church and the private offices, Lucifer could better hear the sounds of soft voices down the hall. One was definitely of a younger man, and one far older.

Lucifer turned to Chloe, and she nodded; she heard them too. As Father Louis moved to now lead them down the hall, Lucifer noticed as Chloe’s hands rested against her hips, just a few inches shy of her holster. They had no idea if Dustin was armed and dangerous. As the two approached the end of the hallway, the office door to the right suddenly opened. Out stepped another collared priest, who must have been somewhere in his late 70’s, with stark white hair that was combed over a balding head. The second figure was a young man in sweat clothes, a pair of old faded jeans and a dark grey hoodie that looked stained and dirty. Both Lucifer and the Detective froze in place.

“Thank you, Father. You don’t know how much this means to me.” The younger man said, his voice sounding strained with exhaustion.

“I’d say don’t expect any miracles, but God is known to grant those from time to time.” The older priest said with a chuckle.

Lucifer flinched slightly at the mention of miracles; he hoped the Detective hadn’t caught that.

The two paused when they heard their approaching footsteps, and they turned to face Father Louis, Lucifer, and the Detective. Lucifer watched as the younger man’s eyes widened in panic, and he tensed in place. Father Louise either hadn’t noticed the younger man’s reaction, or didn’t bother to care.

“Father Gabriel, the LAPD would like to speak withー”

Before Father Louis could finish his sentence, the young man bolted. Immediately the Detective shouted at the man as he sprinted towards the door at the end of the hall, which was lit by the red light of an exit sign that hung from above. The man, obviously their suspect Dustin, kicked the door open. He stumbled a bit from the force of his kick as an emergency alarm started to go off.

The Detective and Lucifer were hot on his tail as they entered the back parking lot of the chapel. There weren’t too many cars out, but enough for Dustin to weave between them in a desperate attempt to lose them.

“Dustin Weatherly, stop!” Chloe shouted at them, huffing as she sprinted.

Soon they were out on the main streets of the city. Dustin shoved out passing pedestrians out of the way roughly, which earned him a few loud curses in both English and Spanish. Dustin looked over his shoulder, only to spot that Lucifer and the Detective were catching up on him. Lucifer could see the fear in his face, clear as day.

Suddenly, Dustin veered into oncoming traffic. Somehow he managed to dodge most of the cars, some slamming on the brakes to stop from hitting him. The horns of angry drivers filled the air as the Detective and Lucifer continued their pursuit. Lucifer had to keep half his attention on the cars coming towards him, fully aware how vulnerable both he and the Detective were. If one person wasn’t paying attention, then the day would end with someone in the hospital.

They crossed the busy boulevard, now safely on the other sidewalk. They were slowly gaining on Dustin, as the younger man must not have been in good shape. Lucifer could hear the young man’s tired huffs. He turned the corner, stumbling over his feet and threatening to fall from over exertion.

“Last chance, Dustin. Stop and come in peacefully.” Chloe shouted again, and Lucifer could hear the frustration in her voice.

But instead of stopping like he was ordered, Dustin roughly pushed a nearby woman into the adjacent street. The woman cried out in panic, and the Detective harshly cursed as they both watched the woman tumble onto her side. Instantly, the Detective changed course and headed towards the woman.

“Lucifer! Go after him.” The Detective ordered, shouting as she bent over to help the woman, who looked like had gained a large bleeding scratch from falling onto the asphalt. “Don’t let him get away!”

“With pleasure, Detective!” Lucifer shouted, not even slowing down in his pace.

That was fine with Lucifer. He thought with a grin, _well, the Devil does like a good chase_ . _It makes things much more interesting_.

Dustin didn’t make it much further; it seemed that shoving that woman into traffic had been a last ditch effort to escape. Only a few blocks further down the street, and Dustin looked like he was on the verge of collapsing. Lucifer was quick to wrestle his hold on the back of the man’s hoodie. Dustin cried out in anger and tried to punch Lucifer, but the Devil’s reaction time was much better than his. Soon, Lucifer had the man pinned against a brick wall of a bar, Dustin’s face pressed against the wall’s rough surface.

Making sure his hold on Dustin was still tight, Lucifer leaned into his right ear. “My my, someone’s been naughty, hasn’t he?”

“Dude, let me go!” Dustin said, his words sounding mushed together, but that was because his face was still pressed against the brick wall.

“Fat chance of that, not until the Detective comes to collect.” Lucifer comment with a grin. “We’re going to have some fun with you yet.”

Dustin let out an aggravated groan as he gave one last fruitless attempt to wrestle free from Lucifer’s hold on him. Shortly after, the Detective had caught up with them, her set of handcuffs already in her hands. Lucifer kept his pin on Dustin as the Detective cuffed their suspects. She quickly rattled his Miranda Rights as she finally allowed Dustin to stumble away from the brick wall. Lucifer stared at the man’s sullen expression, seeing that the man’s eyes were still full of anger and frustration and how they refused to look at the two partners.

“Good work, Detective.” Lucifer said with a nod of his head. “Let’s get him back at the station and wrap this up.”

They had to wrap this up quickly if they still wanted to keep their dinner plans on the table.

By the time that they arrived back at St. Thomas’ Downtown Cathedral, Lucifer and the Detective were surprised to find that both Father Louis and Father Gabriel were waiting for their return by the chapel’s large wooden doors. Lucifer eyed them curiously as the Detective opened the squad car’s back doors and grabbed Dustin’s head. She ushered Dustin into the back before slamming the door and locking the car. Dustin gave the Detective the side eye as she moved away.

“Detective Decker?” Father Louis spoke up, stepping forward before the two partners could enter their car. “May we share a word with you before you leave.”

The Detective spared a brief moment to think that through before stiffly nodding her head. Together she and Lucifer joined the two priests.

“What is it, Father?” The Detective asked.

The two priests shared a hesitant glance with one another before Father Louis started.“We believe it’s important to tell you the nature of Mr. Weatherly’s visit. Yes, we offered sanctuary, but the man was seeking something else as well. Something that only we can offer him.” He explained. “You see, he told us where he had been last night.”

“Oh,” Lucifer said with a hint of fake interest in his voice. He glanced down at the Detective before continuing, as if he was seeking her consent to poke fun at the priests. But he didn’t wait for her approval. “Did Dusty here tell you about how he murdered his friend in cold blood? Strangled the life out of him while staring right in his eyes? … And I thought that murder was one of dear old Dad’s 10 commandments...”

That earned Lucifer a glare from both of the priests. And they seemed to ignore his offhanded comment, turning to the Detective instead. “What Mr. Weatherly told us was that he had spent a night in what he believed to be a deeply haunted building. He… believes he wasn’t himself last night. And he came to us, wishing for Father Gabriel to perform an exorcism.”

Father Gabriel stepped forward. His voice was soft but strained from old age. “And I intend to keep my promise to the young man, Detective Decker.”

The Detective was frowning.

“Dustin Weatherly is currently the prime suspect of our murder investigation. Not to mention that the building he mentioned is our crime scene. It’s still being processed.” The Detective pointed out. She shook her head sternly. “I can’t allow that.”

And Lucifer couldn’t help but sarcastically add to her statement. His grin was wide as he spoke. “Even so, I’m _certain_ shouting Latin at an empty building will get all those nasty ghost buggers out. Don’t forget the holy water while you’re at it.”

“Detective.” Father Louis started, sounding properly annoyed at this point. He was certainly giving Lucifer a look that seemed like he wanted to murder him. “We are not afraid to go above you. We _will_ talk to your superior about this.”

The Detective met the Father’s furious glare with her own hardened gaze. Her face was almost expressionless, but Lucifer could see the small movement of her eyes squinting from irritation. Lucifer could practically read her thoughts as Father Louis said this. _Good, go bother someone else other than me._ And Lucifer was proven right as the Detective pulled out her wallet and handed Father Louis a small business card.

“Here’s Lieutenant Monroe’s number. You might want to catch her before her shift is over.” The Detective said curtly. “Now if you excuse us, my partner and I have to get back to the station.”

* * *

 

Dustin Weatherly sat slumped against the interrogation room’s metal chair. Lucifer and Chloe sat opposite him. While the Detective was currently going through the few documents they had on hand, already knowing what was in there but stalling for time to let Dustin sweat, Lucifer was staring down the boy. And he was a boy. He couldn’t have been older than 24, much younger than both of the Sanchez brothers.

Dustin had ash colored hair, which was limp and unkempt. There were dark circles around his eyes, which were more readily apparent against his pale, ghost like complexion. The boy looked like he hadn’t slept in over 48 hours. Despite currently being held in an interrogation room, Dustin looked more troubled with the fact that he had trouble keeping his head up. He must have exerted all of his energy in his last ditch effort to escape. He was frowning harshly, and every breath he took in almost sounded like a snarl.

Despite the background check they had run on the boy, he didn’t look like the heir to his parents’ successful real estate company. Dustin was dressed in an old hoodie, currently covered in dust and dirt (most likely from the scene of the crime), and his sneakers were ratty from overuse and age.

Lucifer recognized the air Dustin carried with him the way he seemed intent on carrying himself: he was the rebellious son. Lucifer didn’t much like the thought of that, as that meant they shared something in common.

As Dustin went to wipe the dripping snot away from his nose, Lucifer caught the sight of bruising around his wrist, dark purple surrounded by a layer of yellow from healing. Lucifer raised his eyebrows at the sight of it before turning to Chloe. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before giving a stiff nod; she had seen the bruising too.

With that, Chloe finally closed the folder, turning her full attention onto Dustin.

“Dustin Weatherly, you were the last known person to be with Jake Sanchez.” Chloe started, not even bothering to lead up the interrogation with small talk. “I’d ask you for an alibi, but Jake was found at the location where the two of you were filming for a new episode of _The Ghoul Guys_. Not only that, but your DNA was found underneath his fingernails.”

Lucifer quickly jumped in, leaning over onto the table, resting on his elbows. He gave Dustin a charming smile, all teeth and no sincerity. “Not to mention that you ran from us when we found you at St. Thomas’s Cathedral. In my experience, innocent parties never run from justice.”

Chloe paused, allowing for Dustin to take in their words and the increasingly incriminating evidence. Her next words were harsh, barely concealing her anger.

“You better have a damn good explanation.”

For the first time since being escorted into the room, Dustin looked up at the Detective. Even after those accusations, the man just sneered at her. Lucifer frowned at that, moving just a bit to shift Dustin’s attention over to him. Still, Lucifer smiled at the man, the falseness of it making Dustin falter.

Finally, Dustin spoke up. “I didn’t kill Jake.”

Lucifer dropped his smile. “Now that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.”

“It’s _not_ a lie!” Dustin sneered before sagging back into the chair. He was starting to sweat visibly, a sheen highlighted on his forehead.

“Well if you didn’t kill him, who did?” Lucifer continued to press.

And for a moment, Dustin paused. The anger in his eyes was still there, but his mouth trembled as he tried to come up with something. Lucifer shook his head as he gave Chloe a glance. The Detective’s own expression was unreadable, her full attention on the suspect that was sitting across from them. Still, Lucifer gave her a knowing smirk. This case almost seemed too easy.

Lucifer almost didn’t hear Dustin’s answer.

“The Devil made me do it.” Dustin whispered.

Any sort of frivolity on Lucifer’s face disappeared in an instant. His head snapped to face Dustin, and he gave the young man a hard stare. Lucifer felt one of the corners of his mouth twitch as he felt a spark of anger bubble over him. Just out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the Detective’s hands clench into fists underneath the table. One of the Detective’s hands almost reached out to grab his elbow, but she stopped herself.

“Tell me.” Lucifer started, his voice cold and harsh; there was an anger underneath it that he knew the Detective could recognize. It was a dangerous sort of anger. “Tell me, why would I do such a thing?”

At this, Dustin frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Why. Would I. Make you to kill Jake Sanchez?!” Lucifer shouted. He jumped out of his chair and brought his hands down onto the table, palms slamming against the metallic surface. Dustin jumped in his seat from being startled at the sudden motion and gasped.

“The hell is your problem, dude?! You didn’t! The Devil did!” Dustin answered, his tone of voice having shifted from anger to a mixture of surprise and panic. He was then shaking his head furiously, ashen curls shifting with the movement. “You wouldn't understand! No one ever does. I have a spiritual connection to the supernatural. I can feel their presence!”

Lucifer scoffed. “Obviously not, or you’d realize who you were talking to.”

“ _Lucifer_.” Chloe said his name as a warning.

But Lucifer ignored her. Instead he made his way over towards the other side of the table. Lucifer could feel the Detective glaring into his back. He sat down on the table’s corner, bending over so he was towering over Dustin. It was obviously making the young man uncomfortable, as he was trying his best to avoid Lucifer’s penetrating gaze. From this angle, Lucifer could see a small golden cross that hung around Dustin’s neck.

“Tell me… ‘Dusty’, you must think you know all about the supernatural. All about God and the Devil. Of right and wrong.” Lucifer said, his tone growing harsher. He gave off a dark chuckle. Alright, he’d play this child’s game, just to humor him. “If you have such a strong connection to all that, tell me why Satan, Beelzebub, good Old Scratch would want Jake Sanchez killed? I’m truly curious to hear the answer.”

Dustin finally looked up at Lucifer, as he were insane. “Why wouldn’t he? He’s evil.”

Lucifer growled as he jumped out of his tense seat on the table. He grabbed Dustin by his hoodie as he slammed the boy into the back wall. Lucifer could feel barely contained hellfire crackling behind his eyes. It took all Lucifer’s self control not to show this Devil Face to this miserable weasel of a boy. To show him who he was truly playing fire with. Not yet at least; the Detective still needed a confession.

“You will not blame me for this! I did _not_ want this!” Lucifer was shouting now, and he was briefly conscious of how others outside of the interrogation room might be able to hear him. Dustin was shivering from fear as Lucifer tightened his hold on him, pinning him against the wall. “I have _never_ asked for atrocities to be carried out in my name!”

Dustin quickly transformed into a blubbering mess. Tears were streaming down his face, his cheeks red and puffy. He brought his hands up to Lucifer’s, desperately but fruitlessly trying to pry away his hold on him. Lucifer could hear messy pleas and apologies, but he didn’t care for them.

“No, this was all your doing.” Lucifer said, his voice low and dangerous. His lips twitched into a snarl as Lucifer maintained eye contact with Dustin. “Tell me why you did it. What did you desire?”

Dustin was quite weak willed, and his answer came out in a sob. “I wanted his show!”

“And so you killed him for it?!” Lucifer accused him.

Dustin was nodding his head. “I saw his emails! He tried to hide them but I saw them when we were setting up. He was offered his own TV show, but he was going to cut me and Damien out of the deal! He was going to be famous. And if I couldn’t be famous, neither could he.”

“So you killed him out of… jealousy?” Lucifer spat out, disgusted. He suddenly dropped Dustin harshly, the boy staggering before he caught his footing. “You killed a man, tore him away from his family. And instead of living with the guilt, you decide to blame the Devil.”

Lucifer shook his head slowly, his next words were barely audible. “No hiding from the truth, Dustin. This was all your doing. Even the Devil wouldn’t stoop that low.”

_But hadn’t he?_

_Hadn’t he killed his own brother?_

Lucifer stumbled backwards as his thoughts bombarded him. The anger that had been stewing within him suddenly disappeared. And suddenly Lucifer felt… empty. Hollow. Small. Lucifer stood there motionless, staring at Dustin has he attempted to regain his bearings. Lucifer slowly turned to face the Detective, his heart thrumming wildly in his ears.

The Detective was staring at him, and Lucifer couldn’t comprehend the expression on her face. She was frowning, but he had no clue if was from anger, concern, or something else. What was she thinking? She was surely judging him, just like all the rest of humanity.

Lucifer found that he couldn’t be in the same room as her in that moment. He rushed out of the interrogation room, the metal doors swinging with the force of his push. As he fled further into the precinct, Lucifer could hear the Detective’s voice growing fainter.

“Dustin Weatherly. You are under arrest for the murder of Jake Sanchez…”

* * *

 

“Lucifer. I think we need to talk about what happened back there.”

Lucifer was surprised it had taken the Detective this long to confront him. Three hours had passed since that horrid interrogation with Dustin Weatherly. During that time, the Detective had gone through the process of booking their murderer and finishing the paperwork on the case. Lucifer had spent that time brooding, at first with Ella for company in her lab. But then the forensic analyst had kicked him out due to his “bad vibes”, and he had spent the latter half of it with Dan.

Fortunately, Daniel had had enough observational skills to realize that something was obviously bothering Lucifer, and he hadn’t outwardly complained about his presence. It spoke wonders about their growing friendship.

And then just as the sun began to set, bathing the station in warm hues, Chloe came to collect Lucifer. She seemed frustrated.

“Somehow Father Louis and Father Gabriel managed to convince Lieutenant Monroe to carry out the exorcism. We’re needed there to make sure they don’t disturb the crime scene too much.”

And then within minutes Lucifer and the Detective were in her squad car, on the highway towards their crime scene. Following behind them in a second squad car was Dan and Ella.

When Lucifer didn’t respond to her statement, Chloe pressed again.

“Lucifer. Please. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing you have to trouble yourself over, Detective. I’m a grown Devil, and I can take care of myself.” Lucifer said with a sigh. As if to prove his point, Lucifer took his flask out of his jacket’s pocket and took a swing of the whiskey inside.

The Detective shook her head. “Somehow I don’t believe that.”

There was another moment of silence.

“Lucifer. Please don’t push me away again.”

And how could Lucifer say no to her? She could ask Lucifer for the stars and they would be hers. He made them after all. But what really pulled at Lucifer’s heartstrings was how the Detective sounded concerned, hurt even. Lucifer took a quick glance at her, and yes, she was definitely concerned for him. It sat there, plain as day, on her furrowed brows and the slight downwards twist of her lips. And despite everything that he had put her through, intentional or not, Lucifer was done hurting the Detective.

Never again.

“Very well, Detective.” Lucifer finally relented. “Yes. I may have… lost control of myself during our interrogation. I assure you that it won’t happen again.”

“What Dustin said is bothering you, isn’t it?” The Detective asked softly, hesitantly. Lucifer only nodded his head, not wanting to voice it out loud. Because saying it will make it seem more tangible, more real of a problem. “Lucifer, Dustin Weatherly was obviously a very troubled man. And he used his faith as a way to deal with his guilt.”

“I know Detective. He wasn’t the first the blame me, and Dad knows he won’t be the last either.” Lucifer said, sounding drained even to himself. He shook his head slightly as he stared up at the sky. “When humans can’t believe themselves capable to performing monstrous acts, they turn their attentions onto an actual monster instead.”

“Lucifer. You’re not a monster. And you are _not_ to blame about Jake Sanchez’ death.” The Detective said forcefully.

And to hear that she doesn’t blame him put a smile on his face. Just a small one, just a slight tug at the corner of his lips before Lucifer returned to a somber resting face. He quickly glanced at the Detective, only to see that she was still looking at him in concern.

And then the Detective surprised him. She reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a soft squeeze. Lucifer almost flinched away from the sudden contact; they hadn’t done anything as intimate as this since before… well, before. Lucifer found that he didn’t want the Detective to pull away. But eventually she did, gripping the steering wheel again. His palm still felt warm from the touch of her skin.

“Lucifer I… I care about you. You’re my partner. You’re my friend. If something like this bothers you again, please tell me.” The Detective asked.

“You have my word.” And the Devil always kept his word.

A moment passed as Lucifer was trapped within his own thoughts. Before he could stop himself, before he could think through his thoughts, Lucifer spoke up.

“Detective. Humor me for a second, if you will. Would you trust the Devil?”

Whatever the Detective had been expecting from him, it certainly wasn’t that. Lucifer watched as Chloe’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. She glanced at him warily before her eyes returned to the road. She thought over his question for a few seconds before asking for clarification.

“The Devil as in you? Or as in the biblical figure?” She asked.

And Lucifer was surprised to hear himself chuckle in response, despite the inner turmoil that was growing within him. “For once, forget all that talk of me as the Devil. Would you trust the fallen angel, the ruler of Hell? The figure that Dustin killed for?”

“Is this a serious question?”

“Yes.” It very much was. And Lucifer was terrified to hear the answer. “If the Devil of legend suddenly appeared before you and asked you to trust him, would you? And don’t worry about upsetting me. I’d like to know your honest answer.”

Now, Lucifer knew that the Detective was a woman of logic. The only sort of hypotheticals she could ever get behind were ones where there was a hint of reality in its backbone. The Detective often avoided questions about faith, as she had adamantly made it clear she didn’t believe in one. But America’s mainstream culture was deeply rooted in the Christian faith, and there was no escaping from that. Whether Chloe was Christian or not, Lucifer knew what had been drilled into her head since she was old enough to understand words.

God is Good. The Devil is Bad.

So he was expecting the answer she gave him.

“Honestly? I don’t know.” The Detective confessed, her words quiet. And then she was shaking her head. “Probably not.”

Lucifer nodded at this small admission, and he couldn’t help but feel that small twist of hurt in his heart. But he needed to hear this.

“Thank you for your honesty, Detective.” Lucifer said, keeping his voice even as much as possible.

He caught her frown from the corner of his eye, guilt clear on her face. “Lucifer―”

“No, please Detective. It’s a rational reaction.”

She could sense that Lucifer wanted to drop the conversation, and he was thankful that she did so. Her attention returned to the road, which was perhaps for the best, as it was rush hour in Los Angeles. There was heavy congestion now. Lucifer did his best to keep his mind clear as he stared out ahead, watching red taillights against the sea of cars, the orange sky above beginning to darken as night krept over the eastern horizon.

By the time that they arrived to the “haunted” mansion, Lucifer could see that the priests had already arrived. They were waiting patiently on the sidewalk, as the fence that surrounded the mansion’s property was locked up, gate secured tightly. The Detective pulled over beside the priests’ car. Across the street Dan pulled over as well. As the two priests came over to greet the Detective, the frowned to see Lucifer was here as well. Lucifer returned the sentiment, rolling his eyes as he climbed out of the squad car.

Lucifer straightened out his suit as the Detective began conversing with Father Louis and Father Gabriel. From her tone of voice, Lucifer could tell that the Detective still didn’t like the idea of the priests rummaging around the crime scene. He ignored most of the conversation, instead choosing to join Dan and Ella as the forensic analyst started to unlock the gate.

“Ever been to an exorcism before, Lucifer?” Dan asked as he held a flashlight to illuminate the lock Ella was bent over.

“I think you’ll be surprised to find that I have not. It’s the Devil’s first, actually.” Lucifer said with a small smirk, mind already turning away from that somewhat unpleasant conversation from within the Detective’s car.

“Really? I find that hard to believe.” Dan said.

“Yeah, I feel like you would’ve seen dozens of them to help get into character.” Ella added with a grunt. She was struggling to turn the rusted key in the lock. She gave one more good tug, and finally the padlock released. She let out a sigh of relief before turning to Lucifer. “Honestly though, they’re kind of boring.”

“Oh? This sounds like a story worth telling. Do tell me, Miss Lopez.” Lucifer said, interest peaking in his voice.

“Nah, it’s not that interesting. Back in high school, the nuns were worried that this one chick was into satanism, so they had someone come in and perform one on her. Turns out, the girl was just a goth and a _big_ fan of heavy metal.” Ella explained.  “The school ended getting into a _a lot_ of trouble with her parents.”

“That poor girl, all that for her choice in music and wardrobe.” Lucifer said with a soft shake of his head.

“Yeah, she was pretty cool too.” Ella said. “She gave me my first stick and poke tattoo, too.”

Now that the gate was properly opened, they escorted the priests inside. All four watched by the sidelines as the priests carried out whatever equipment they brought with them. They remained quiet as they watched the priests set up. It seemed they brought very little with them to perform the exorcism. When they finally turned to the Detective, they did so with little hesitation.

It was Father Gabriel who spoke “For your protection during the ceremony, we have kindly brought a few spare crucifixes. They will help protect you from any dangerous forces that present themselves to us during the exorcism.”

The elder priest pulled out a few necklaces from his pocket. They were nothing but a plain silver chain each with a crucifix attached. Dan nodded in thanks before he took one. The Detective hesitated but soon took one as well, looking uncertain as she placed it around her neck. And when Father Gabriel turned expectantly to Lucifer, Lucifer couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head in response. He wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a crucifix.

“Sorry, it’ll take a bit more than worrying about ‘demonic possession’ for me to wear one of those.” Lucifer said, using actual air quotes as he spoke. Instead, he pulled out his flask and showed it to the priests. He took a swig of it before continuing with a charming smile. “I’ll stick with this.”

Father Gabriel sighed but nonetheless pocketing the remaining couple necklaces before returning to Father Louis. Father Louis held a bundle of sage in one hand and a small lighter in the other. And after a few sparks, there was a small trail of smoke that wafted through the air. The smell of burning sage tickled Lucifer’s nose. He found that the urge to sneeze was growing, but he was able to ignore it.

They all watched as Father Louis began walking around the room slowly, letting the sage smoke fill the air. As Father Louis began to explore further into the house, Dan was quick to follow beside him, just to make sure he didn’t start digging anywhere unneeded. They waited in silence for the two men to return, listening closely to the squeaking floorboards.

When Dan and Father Louis returned, the younger priest turned to speak to them.

“Before we begin, I ask that you hold the utmost respect for our work until we are done. It’s with our faith in God that grants us the power to banish unholy forces.” Father Louis paused to look at Lucifer and he let out an irritated sigh. “I _would_ ask for Mr. Morningstar to leave the premises, since his mockery of the Christian faith makes his his very presence here a threat to the sanctity of the exorcism.”

Now Lucifer wasn’t going to take that sitting down. He may not believe all of this hullabaloo, but to be talked down like that, and by a priest no less, was a personal insult.

Yes, Lucifer was very talented at… dirtying anything holy or otherwise divine. But an exorcism was _not_ holy. If anything was a mockery here, it was that.

Lucifer moved to confront the priest, but suddenly he felt the Detective’s hand on his elbow, holding him back. Of course, he was strong enough to pull away, but it was enough to remind him that this wasn't the place or time. Lucifer sighed, his aggravation growing steadily. He couldn’t wait to get out of here.

Father Louis then continued, not catching the small confrontation between Lucifer and Chloe. “But your Lieutenant seemed very adamant that he be here as well.”

Father Gabriel perked up just then. “I think we’re just about ready to begin.”

Father Louis nodded before turning his attention to the four of them. “I will ask that you keep a steady distance between us during the entirety of the ceremony.”

Once the two priests were happy with the freedom of space between them, they began the exorcism. Lucifer watched with some interest as the priests pulled out small bottles of holy water. To which he rolled his eyes at and crossed his arms impatiently. The two priests began chanting in Latin ( _It was always Latin. What was so special about_ that _dead language anyways?)_ as they opened the bottles. As they spoke, the priests began sprinkling the holy water against the floor and walls.

It was the eldest of the priests who spoke first, his Latin a bit rusty. He held up a large brass cross as he spoke. _“Dear Lord, Father in Heaven, hear us now as we begin this ceremony to cleanse this place of impure spirits. We ask you now to aid us with your might and wisdom. Give us the strength to reveal the demonic spirits that mock the Light of your Divinity.”_

Lucifer rolled his eyes again, and then he felt Chloe lightly backhand his shoulder. Not with enough force to hurt him, but definitely enough to catch his attention. He turned and saw the Detective’s glare. He silently shrugged his shoulder in response.

Father Gabriel paused as Father Louis steadily made his way around the room, carefully sprinkling more holy water.

_“We demand the evil spirits in this house to reveal themselves now. We demand that you humble yourselves under the might of God. By the Wickedness of your Sin, we shall cast you out of this Earth and send you back to Hell. No more shall you torment innocent souls─”_

At that Lucifer couldn’t help but let out a dark chuckle. It rang out, breaking the tense silence like an unwanted gunshot.

Immediately the two Priests froze in place, staring at Lucifer. Lucifer didn’t even try to recollect himself, his chuckle now turning into a hollow laugh. Lucifer could feel the Detective’s glare, as well as Dan and Ella’s own, but he just shook his head as he stepped away from his spot in the open archway. He approached the two priests, and somewhat delighted when they took a half step backwards away from him.

“Believe me when I say it, but that man was not an innocent soul.” Lucifer started with a dark smile on his face. “The two of you are more foolish than I thought if you still believe that.”

If either of the priests were surprised to find that Lucifer was fluent in Latin, then neither said anything.  Father Louis frowned, clearly irritated, and he approached Lucifer.

“I knew your presence here would be an interference.” Father Louis said sharply.  The priest was clutching the bottle of holy water tightly in his hand, his knuckles almost white from the force he was exerting. “You invite sin and evil into your life, Mr. Morningstar―”

“Well I should hope so! That’s the bloody point, isn’t it?!” Lucifer retorted angrily, shouting loud enough to surely alert the neighboring households. The anger from earlier, the anger directed at Dustin Weatherly and any others who used him as a scapegoat, was flickering out of control. Like a campfire left unattended during a drought. “That’s _all_ the Devil is good for, apparently! Nothing but a big whopping bag of evil and malevolence, who hates all of humanity! According to you lot, that’s how its always _been_!”

“Lucifer! That’s _enough_.” The Detective’s angered words broke into the argument, cutting off whatever Father Louis was about to say.

But Lucifer was shaking his head; he refused to turn to face her. He didn't want her to see how affected he was by this. “No, I don’t think it is, Detective. You humans may put your faith in all this rubbish, all this make believe. And what? Just to make yourselves feel safer? Safer against the Big Bad Devil? But I certainly don’t need to.”

The air felt suddenly colder, Lucifer’s anger sucking up any heat in the room. He stared darkly into Father Louis’ eyes, sensing the growing terror in the older man. The man’s lips started to tremble, his words refusing to form. And the darker side of Lucifer took joy in that. It seemed that finally, just once, someone finally saw Lucifer for who he truly was. Not as some deranged LA lunatic, but as the Devil, in the flesh.

Lucifer confidently took another step closer to Father Louis. His words were low, almost threatening. “So while you all believe in this.... this exorcism, this “mockery” of faith, you’ll find that I won’t―”

Whatever Lucifer was about to say, he was cut off as Father Louis suddenly doused him with holy water. For a moment, Lucifer paused in his tirade, confused as the water dripped down his face and soaked his Armani suit. He brought up a hand to wipe away the water, hands glancing down at his wet palm.

Lucifer let out another dark chuckle as he shook his head. “You’ll be expecting my dry cleaner’s bill for that.”

If Lucifer had been expecting a response from the priest, he received none. Well, besides the growing sense of terror on Father Louis’ face. Both priests stumbled backwards away from him. Father Gabriel mumbled low in his breath, just audible enough for Lucifer to hear him.

_“El Diablo…”_

And suddenly, a painful stinging sensation began to form on Lucifer’s skin, as well as anywhere else the holy water had made contact. Lucifer grunted in pain as the pain slowly went from mildly annoying to a degree under severely unbearable. Lucifer brought up his hand again to feel at the now tender skin. But he froze as his hand came into his line of sight. There, against the pads of his fingers and his palm of his hand, were patches of red, raw flesh against normal, pristine skin.

Oh.

_Oh no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hated ending this on a cliff hanger, but the chapter was already getting too long. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

At first, Chloe didn’t know how to react. Because she hadn’t  _ seen  _ what the priests had seen. All she could make out with Lucifer’s back facing her was that something utterly unexpected and horrible had happened. Lucifer let out a grunt in pain before he turned to face her. And when he did, it felt like the world had fallen out from under her, sending her into a freefall.

Chloe couldn’t help but stare at her partner, mouth agape and her eyes glued onto the spots where it looked like his skin was  _ melting away _ . Parts of Lucifer’s skin were raw, like an incredibly painful sunburn on an  _ atomic level  _ that had caused several layers of his skin to peel away to reveal the muscle and ligaments underneath. Chloe couldn't help but wonder if it hadn’t been holy water the two priests had been sprinkling everywhere, but skin-eating acid. Because what else could describe what she was seeing?

And then the liquid dripped into one of Lucifer’s eyes. He hissed out in pain and brought the back of a hand up to wipe away at the fluid. When he did so, it left one of his eyes  _ changed _ . The sclera was left completely black, and his iris was glowing red in the dimly lit room. 

Chloe shivered from the sight,  leaving her whole body shaking. It felt like her heart had stopped in her chest. 

Lucifer froze in place. 

“Detective?” His words were like a whisper. Chloe could see the rising panic start to form from Lucifer’s one normal eye. “Detective, wait!”

Beside her, she heard either Ella or Dan stumble backwards, right into the wall they were standing by. Ella muttered something quick in spanish, her mouth stumbling over her tongue. She felt Dan’s hand grip her shoulder, tight enough to elicit a sharp breath of pain. But Chloe couldn’t move, for Lucifer’s gaze was pinning her in place. Her limbs felt like they were made of lead. She could only focus on Lucifer. Father Gabriel and Louis were unfocused blurs behind him, which quickly started to move in place. 

Distracted by Chloe, Lucifer was unaware of the priests until they poured more Holy Water over his form. Lucifer flinched from the contact of the fluid, and now that he had turned to her, Chloe could see a faint cloud of steam waft off of Lucifer. No, it wasn’t steam, it was  _ smoke.  _ Something was sizzling in the air, and Chloe quickly realized that it must have been Lucifer’s skin. More and more of that angry, raw red flesh appeared over Lucifer. Soon, less than half of his face was recognizable. Patches of his dark hair had been burnt off, revealing the angry red flesh beneath.

The two priests quickly begun in Latin, both holding out a large metal cross in one hand. The crosses were shaking, their arms trembling from fear. Their voices were loud and booming; despite their terror they had somehow reclaimed their confidence. 

The exorcism continued.

But something was different this time. 

As the priests spoke, Lucifer buckled over from pain, screaming as he did so. He brought his hands up to what was left of his hair, pulling at the tufts and the exposed flesh altogether. Lucifer stumbled to his knees inelegantly, almost falling over to his side as he did so.

It was then that Chloe fully realized what was going on. Her partner was being exorcised. Something was  _ in  _ Lucifer. Something was  _ possessing  _ Lucifer.

_ Oh God! _ Was something  _ inside _ Lucifer?!

No… something wasn’t inside Lucifer. 

Lucifer had been telling the truth this whole time.

This realization made Chloe disoriented; if it wasn’t for Dan’s tight grip on her, she would have fallen over. Her legs felt hollow, unable to hold her weight. Still, she stumbled into Dan’s stiff embrace. Chloe quickly looked to her side, only to see that Dan’s face had gone extremely pale, but his eyes were twitching with panic. Beside them, Ella had somehow made it to the floor, backed up against the wall in an attempt to retreat as far away as possible. The younger woman looked like she was about to faint, and she had a tight grip on the crucifix around her neck. 

Another one of Lucifer’s screams echoed through the empty house, and Chloe snapped back to him. Lucifer was gripping at the old hardwood floors, his fingernails digging into the grooves hard enough to leave blood. His blood.  _ It’s blood _ . The two priests towered above him, still chanting their latin incantations. Lucifer let out another gut wrenching howl, and now there was something  _ definitely wrong  _ with his voice. It sounded two toned; Chloe could barely hear his true voice, the one she knew, over a deep throated, menacingly and monstrous low growl that sent shivers down her spine. 

Primeval instincts within Chloe seemed to kick into overdrive.  _ Get away, monster. Predator. Run, run run! _

But Chloe had nowhere to run; her back was against a wall. She reached down to her holster, her hand shaking too badly to undo the button and grab her pistol. After a few more tries, Chloe successfully had her pistol up and pointed at Lucifer, but she didn’t know if she would ever have the strength to shoot. 

From his vulnerable position on the ground, Lucifer started to crawl away from the priests that stood overtop him. And closer towards the three of them. His movements were slow, weak as his body shook from the pain. The priests started to scream their Latin incantations. Lucifer howled again, and Chloe jumped as she saw flames start to spark over his body. The flames left the suit Lucifer was wearing untouched, focused mostly on whatever was left of his pristine skin. Chloe could feel the heat from the flames; she felt her arm hair snap and sizzle from the heat, as if she was standing too close to a raging forest fire. 

Suddenly, Lucifer ( _ god…  _ **_the_ ** _ Lucifer. The actual Devil _ ) found enough strength to pick up his head, and he immediately caught Chloe’s terror filled gaze. His own eyes were alight with fire, the iris like molten magma. They held her in place.

“Chloe,  _ please!”  _ That two toned voice called out to her, sending another terror induced shiver down her spine that threatened to stop her heart in place. He tentatively reached out a raw, red hand towards her before grunting and letting it fall down to the ground. His fingers began to twitch involuntarily. He gasped as he looked back up at her with what little strength remained. “Please don’t… I didn’t...”

Through her terror, Chloe became confused when she saw through that horribly scarred face that it was  _ Lucifer _ was the one that was truly terrified. She recognized enough of his features to see the panic and fear he must have been feeling. It was from recognizing that that Chloe finally found it in her to point her gun down, away from Lucifer. But not completely drawn away. 

And then suddenly, everything came to an end.

Father Gabriel and Louis halted with their Latin incantations with a deafening shout. Lucifer cried out once more, his voice breaking as he suddenly collapsed completely, going limp as his entire body fell to the hardwood floor. As he did so, a ring of fire sprouted from his body, ghosting over the floor as it extended to all corners of the room. Chloe jumped as the wall of fire reached her, and she brought up her arms to shield her face. But it just passed by her, encompassing her in a wall of heat.

The fire disappeared, and then the abandoned mansion was left too quiet. It took a couple seconds for Chloe to recollect herself, as she suddenly found herself breathless. The world almost seemed tilted to its side, and it almost threatened to send her toppling over. It felt like her heart was suddenly sent into overdrive now that everything was said and done. Her heartbeat was thrumming madly in her ears as she took stock of her surroundings. 

Dan and Ella were just as visibly shaken as she was, eyes wide and not entirely sure of what had just happened. Ahead of them were the priests, who stood completely still, their backs turned towards them. And just beyond them was the motionless, and still very much unconscious form of Lucifer. Still with scarred, red, angry flesh.

Chloe could hear Dan springing to action, grabbing his flashlight off of his belt. With a tap of a button, the flashlight’s light shown on Lucifer’s form, the light shaking from Dan’s nerves. And that was all the confirmation they needed; yes everything that had happened,  _ did indeed  _ happen.

Ella suddenly swore again. 

And that was what finally shattered any semblance of peace in the house. The pair of priests were finally knocked out of their stupor. Immediately both Father Gabriel and Father Louis backed away from Lucifer’s form, stumbling over their feet. Father Louis stumbled into the nearby end table and fell to his side, and he scrambled further away on the floor. Chloe could barely hear the garbled words they shared with one another, as their voices were too quick and shaking with purely restrained terror. 

“Why is it still here?!”

“What went wrong? Why didn’t it work?”

“Do we need to do it again? Oh, Lord above…”

“We need to leave this accursed place.  _ Now _ .”

That seemed to be the only thing the two priests could decide on, it seemed. Without bothering to pick up the supplies and equipment they brought with them, Chloe watched as the two priests hightailed it out the front door. She could hear their hastened footsteps against the concrete path before the slam of the iron gate. Seconds later, there was the start of a car engine, and then the screech of tires. The sounds of a revving  engine cracked through the night like a rumble of thunder, and it dissipated as the priests’ car drove further off into the night.

Which left the three homicide detectives with… whatever was unconscious in front of them. Chloe realized that they had to do something, but her mind was numbingly blank to a solution. It was still busy trying to find a way to rationalize what she had just witnessed. And it was failing to do even that. 

“Uh, guys? Did that really just happen?” Ella finally spoke up, her voice more breath than words. Chloe slowly turned to face her, and found that Ella was staring up at her expectantly, eyes blown wide. The other woman’s skin had taken to a shade of pale most would associated with illness. And when Ella’s next words were almost choked by the threat of vomiting, it appeared that was indeed the case. “Or am I in a nightmare?”

“This is some fucking nightmare if it is one…” Dan muttered, sounding equally winded.

Somehow Chloe gathered up enough confidence and made her way towards Lucifer, flinching against the creaking floorboards. Once she stood overtop him, Chloe faltered. Her eyes roamed over the prone form below her, desperately trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Chloe knelt down beside Lucifer, hands hesitating mid air before she rolled him over onto his back. This was still very much Lucifer’s suit, the one that he had been wearing all day. But who was wearing it now was a complete stranger. 

With Dan’s flashlight still on him, Chloe was able to get a good look at whatever remained of Lucifer’s face (if this was still actually Lucifer, some small part in Chloe’s mind was still holding out hope that it wasn’t). She could see all the damage to it from this close, all the old scars and places where it looked like flesh had been torn off of him. Thankfully, his eyes were closed, because Chloe didn’t know if she could take seeing them again. She was already very close to breaking apart. 

How could Chloe be sure if this was Lucifer?

Did she want it to be Lucifer? Because if she did,  _ what the hell does that mean?  _

Chloe’s trembling hands ran a hand down Lucifer’s suit, and she felt the unnatural heat that emanated off of him. She gave a hesitant look back to Dan and Ella before she bent down and placed an ear down onto his chest. There, she heard his heartbeat. 

“He’s still alive.” Chloe said, her voice somehow sounding calm despite all that had happened. 

Neither Dan nor Ella knew how to respond to that.  

Chloe’s movements gained more confidence. She quickly dug through the jacket’s inner pockets, looking for anything that told her that this was still Lucifer. That this wasn’t some cruel joke. Her hands ghosted over his flask and his phone before she pulled out his wallet. Chloe hastily flipped through it, quickly glimpsing over his driver’s license and the several hundred dollar bills he kept on hand. She shook her head as she let out a heavy breath she hadn’t known she had been holding in, and then she placed the wallet back in his pocket.

Her hands wandered down to his. She picked up his right hand, holding it in the light. Chloe heard Dan mutter something under his breath, but she couldn’t quite catch it. Instead, Chloe was focused on lightly tracing a finger over Lucifer’s knuckles. Again, Chloe was reminded of how unnatural hot his body was. Her palm was practically sweating from the contact alone. Without hesitating further, Chloe took his hand into hers.

Even with the disfigured, discolored flesh, Chloe recognized the feeling of this hand in hers. The shape of his palm; how his fingers felt laced between hers. She covered their entwined hands with her free one, her index finger toying with the onyx ring that sat snuggly on his middle finger.

This was what finally convinced Chloe that yes, this  _ was  _ Lucifer. This was still her partner, her friend, her almost something more. But instead of calming her, this realization only confused her further.

Chloe twisted her head to face Dan and Ella, still holding Lucifer’s hand within hers. Her words were shaky, almost nonexistent. “We need to take him somewhere… somewhere other than here.”

“What?! Chlo, you can’t be serious.” Dan sputtered, aghast. “You saw what I saw, right?”

“I don’t know what I saw, Dan. Nothing makes sense right now.” Chloe said forcefully, her voice growing stronger.

“Well, what  _ I  _ saw were two ordained priests running away as soon as they saw the opportunity.” Dan said, his fright now slowly turning into a mixture of panic and anger. “Chloe, they performed an  _ exorcism _ . And Lucifer turned into a fucking monster. I think I can connect the dots from there.”

When stated plainly like that, laid out bare for the three of them to hear, Chloe couldn’t deny it. But still she gritted her teeth as she glared at Dan. “What I saw was Lucifer in pain. And he was begging for it to stop.”

“Chlo, that was the point of the exorcism. To banish evil spirits.  _ Evil spirits. _ ”

“Dan, we’ve known Lucifer for years. We can’t―”

“I don’t  _ know  _ if I know him, anymore!” Dan shouted, eyes wide as the panic continued to rise within him. He averted his eyes as he brought both hands up to his temples. Dan’s next words were much quieter. “Christ, the guy who’s been stealing my pudding cups is an actual demon. The actual fucking―”

“Oh God.” Ella suddenly spoke up, promptly ending Chloe and Dan’s argument. Chloe turned to see that Ella’s wide eyes were glued on Lucifer’s prone form. The younger woman still looked like she was about to faint. “Lucifer really was telling the truth all this time. He really is the Devil…”

And there was the rest of it. Lucifer Morningstar, famous night club owner and consultant for the LAPD, was the Devil.

The actual, literal Devil from biblical lore.The thing Lucifer’s been telling them ever since their first introduction. It’s all true. It’s always been true.

Ella finally looked like shock was setting in. She slowly knelt back down, hands ready to brace herself if she fell. Ella sat down on the ground, eyes unfocused on one of the corners of the room. Ella let out a loud shiver as she clung tightly to her arms. As Ella began sucking in deep breaths that sound an awful lot like sobbing, Chloe recognized that she was hyperventilating.

Dan didn’t look too far behind the forensic analyst, as his entire face was still as white as a sheet. It looked like he was about to lose his balance. And to be honest to herself, Chloe knew she wasn’t that far either. But there was still a job to do; she couldn’t fall apart just yet. 

There would be time for that later.

Chloe put on a frown in determination and squeezed Lucifer’s hand tightly. She then grabbed Lucifer’s unconscious body and began to prop it up, swinging one of his arms over her shoulder as she struggled to stand up straight. Lucifer had almost a foot over her in height, and Chloe was struggling to hold his body upright. She grunted as she turned towards the door, where she caught the bewildered stares of Dan and Ella. It must have been quite a sight, Chloe having the Devil’s limp body hanging over her, almost threatening to send her tumbling to the ground by his weight alone.

Chloe spoke as she took tentative steps towards the front door. “I can’t just stand here and do nothing. Help me get him in my car, then you can leave. That’s all I’m asking of you.”

Somehow that seemed to be enough to snap Ella and Dan out of their stupor. Dan hesitated in his steps before he let out another frustrated sigh, and then came over. Dan grabbed Lucifer’s other arm and took it over his own shoulder. Together the two managed to carry Lucifer out of the house, his feet dragging behind them uselessly, most likely scuffing up the nice Italian leather of his shoes. Ella followed close behind, opening the gate for them as they approached the edge of the abandoned property.

Ella quickly checked out the street before motioning that the coast was clear. As Dan and Chloe passed, Chloe heard Ella mutter under her breath, “This is freaking insane...”

They dumped Lucifer unceremoniously in the back of Chloe’s squad car. When Chloe slammed the door, she turned to the others again. 

“Okay, uh… I’ll take care of this, guys.” Chloe started, running a nervous hand through her hair. The ponytail that she had done this morning was just barely held together; several large strands of hair were tickling her face and neck. “Just, please don’t do anything or tell anyone until I can figure out what just happened. Please.” 

It didn’t look like Dan wanted to agree to her terms, but nonetheless he nodded his head stiffly. Ella didn’t quite give Chloe an answer, as her eyes were still glued on the squad car’s window, where they could just barely see Lucifer’s crumpled form lying on the seats. When Ella noticed that Chloe was waiting for her, the other woman nodded as well.

“Where are you going to take him?” Ella asked quietly. 

“Lux, probably.” Chloe answered.

But Ella was already shaking her head. “Bad idea. Lux is probably packed with people right now. And if someone sees Lucifer like… like this, word is bound to get around.” 

“Well, then my apartment, I guess.” Chloe said with a shrug of her shoulders. 

“No. You can’t, Chloe. Trixie’s there.” Dan said, figuratively putting his foot down. “I don’t what him anywhere near our daughter.”

“Lucifer’s been with Trixie before, and he’s never hurt her.” Chloe stated. “Plus, Maze is there. She might know what to do.”

It only took a second for the next jump of logic to sink in.

“Maze.  _ Fuck _ . She said she was a demon.” Dan said as he leaned against the squad car for support. It looked like the wind had just been knocked out of him for the second time that night. He looked up at Chloe, his eyes beginning to gloss over with panic again. “Your roommate is an _ actual fucking demon _ .” 

Chloe didn’t even bother to respond to that, shaking her head harshly, more for her own benefit than his. Nope, she can’t deal with this right now. Not when she had to process literally  _ everything else _ that has happened in the past half hour. No, she’ll freak out about Maze tomorrow. Fortunately for Chloe, it seemed like Dan didn’t want to think about this either.

“I’m taking Lucifer to my apartment.” Chloe said decisively, leaving no room for further argument. She made her way towards the other side of the car and opened up the driver’s side door. She paused before she got in to look at the other two one last time. “If you really want to, Dan, follow me and pick Trixie up. She can stay with you tonight.”

It seemed like that was enough to placate her ex-husband. As Chloe finally got into her car and started the engine, she saw Dan and Ella return to their car from her rear view mirror. Chloe waited until she saw the lights of their car turn on before she pulled out into the practically empty street. 

The drive back to her apartment was filled with a tense silence. Chloe couldn’t help but think about the sleeping form in the back seat. Now that she was virtually alone, her resolve almost broke. Her hands were shaking as she gripped tightly at the steering wheel. Tears started to streak down her cheeks unchecked, and Chloe didn’t know if she was crying from fear or from the shock of it all. 

Once the tears started flowing, she couldn’t stop. A sob broke through, and she brought one hand to wipe away at her wet face. Conflicting emotions broke through her, boiling over in a way that she couldn’t comprehend.

She kissed the Devil. 

_ Fuck _ , she was  _ in love with the Devil.  _

The Devil had broken her heart.

Her life was a fucking mess. 

* * *

 

By the time that Chloe pulled up to her apartment, it was late in the night. And while LA was never one to die down when darkness arrived, this was a residential area, with many families that had young kids. The streets were practically dead, with the only two cars on the road being Chloe and Dan’s, 

Which was exactly what Chloe needed at the moment.

After Chloe pulled into her parking space, she spared a moment to wipe at her face, desperate to get rid of any evidence of her breakdown. But she knew that it was a hopeless attempt. Chloe pulled down the sun visor and flipped on the car’s light, and she saw that her face was still red and puffy. And it would remain so for the next couple hours. Still, Chloe wiped away the running mascara with the back of her sleeve, making it slightly less noticeable that she spent the entire drive home crying.

A few minutes later, and Dan’s car pulled up beside hers. Chloe steadied herself before she shut off her car and climbed out. With the slam of a few other car doors, the three officers stood awkwardly in the driveway. With a clear of her throat, Chloe shook the other two into action, and together they helped the still unconscious Lucifer out of her car. They made it up the entryway steps and all three stood there, helping to hold Lucifer up as Chloe struggled to find her keys.

As they stood there at the front door, Chloe could hear the sound of their tv playing from the other side. She shared a quick glance with Dan, his eyes widening a bit. Chloe fought off the urge to grumble in frustration; Maze had kept Trixie up past her bedtime again. She did not need Trixie to see this right now. 

Chloe was about to tell Ella and Dan to wait outside so she could get Trixie out of sight. But that plan went to shit as the door suddenly unlocked from the other side and swung open, only to reveal their 9 year old daughter, clad in fresh pajamas, waiting for them in the doorway. 

“Mommy, Maze said that I could― woah!” Trixie said.

Both Chloe and Dan froze in panic as their daughter’s eyes widened. Trixie let out a soft gasp as she took in Lucifer, her eyes quickly going over the red, raw skin. Chloe fumbled, stumbling over her words as she tried desperately to come up with an explanation without giving too much away. But she was stopped as Trixie abruptly grabbed one of Lucifer’s hands and started to drag all three of them inside with a surprising amount of strength.

“Maze!” Trixie called out, her voice ringing throughout the apartment. “Something’s wrong with Lucifer!” 

From inside the apartment, Maze’s voice pierced the air. “What― _ what the fuck _ ?! What the hell happened?!”

Her questions went ignored as Dan and Chloe trudged into the apartment, Ella following close behind. They unceremoniously dumped Lucifer on the couch, accidentally knocking an abandoned bowl of popcorn off and scattering unpopped kernels across the floor. Lucifer was just a tad too tall for the length of the couch, and his feet were left dangling over the end.

Maze was by Lucifer’s side in an instant, her hands seizing him up. Taking his head into her hands, Maze checked to see if he was still breathing. Maze’s hands were shaking, yet somehow completely gentle with the sleeping form in front of her. She then looked up to Chloe, her face a mixture of apprehension and anger.

“Decker.  _ What. Happened _ .” Maze asked again, glaring in a mix of anger and panic. There was venom in her words. 

“Erm… an exorcism.” Chloe responded, her words stumbling out of her mouth slow and clunky. “And Holy Water.”

“What? That shit actually worked on him?” Maze said, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion before she returned her attention to Lucifer.

Trixie had somehow wormed her way between Dan and Chloe. “Is Lucifer going to be okay?”

“He will be. He  _ better  _ be. Or I’m gonna kick his ass.” Maze said, frowning with determination.

Now that Trixie was by Dan’s side, the man was shaken out of his stupor. Immediately Dan turned to face Trixie, and he bent down to be eye level with her. Dan placed his shaking hands on her shoulders, squeezing them softly. 

“Trix, pack a bag with some clothes in it. You’re gonna sleep at my place for tonight.”

“But Lucifer―”

“Trixie,  _ please _ .” Dan was quick to cut her off. He paused, trying his hardest to find the right words that would both placate the 9 year old girl and get them out of the apartment as fast as possible. “Lucifer...” And here, Dan tripped over Lucifer’s name, “he’s in good hands now. We don’t want to get in the way.”

Trixie looked like she wanted to argue further. But Dan gave the girl a stern look that made it clear that this was neither the time or place to argue this. Trixie gave Lucifer’s unconscious form one last look of concern before she and Dan headed into her room. Dan closed the door behind them.

“Maze? How did Trixie know about Lucifer being…” Chloe’s words trailed off, as she was still unsure if she was capable of speaking the truth for herself. Still she pressed on after taking in a deep breath. “How does my daughter know about Lucifer being the Devil?”

And Maze’s response was just a noncommittal shrug of her shoulders. She hadn’t even bothered to turn to face Chloe to answer her; her attention was still completely on Lucifer. “I don’t know Decker. I didn’t tell her if that’s what you’re asking.”

Okay, that was another thing Chloe would have to deal with later. The fact that her own  _ daughter  _ found this out before her would keep Chloe up for many sleepless nights.

Chloe stood there, hovering over Maze and Lucifer, unsure of what to do now that Lucifer was in capable hands. She fidgeted in place, and she only moved when she spotted that Ella was still hovering in the doorway, sporting the look of a frightened mouse staring down a seasoned housecat. Chloe moved towards Ella and placed a tentative hand on the younger woman. Ella flinched from the contact, but then gave Chloe a hesitant smile. Without speaking, Chloe motioned for Ella to head toward the kitchen.

The first thing Chloe did was grab two glasses out of the cabinet and fill them with some fresh water. Chloe pressed one glass into the forensic technician’s hands before she took a long sip of her own. Chloe kept a close eye on Ella as the younger woman brought the glass up to her mouth and drank the entire thing in one go.

“Are you feeling better?” Chloe asked quietly.

“Ask me that tomorrow, Chloe.” Ella answered with a shaky breath. “Don’t worry about me. I just… learned that my entire faith is real in quite possibly the worst way possible.”

Ella closed her eyes, and Chloe didn’t have to imagine what images were running through the younger woman’s head. Because the same images were still running through her own brain. Lucifer in pain, his burnt body. His screams. It was the stuff of nightmares. But instead of waking up to find that the monster was only in your dreams, the reality was that the monster was currently passed out on your living room couch.

_ No. Stop. Don’t think like that.  _ Chloe mentally berated herself.  _ You know Lucifer. He isn’t a monster, despite what you saw this past hour. _

Suddenly that conversation that had happened prior to the excorcism made too much sense.

_ “Detective. Humor me for a second, if you will. Would you trust the Devil?” _

_ “The Devil as in you? Or as in the biblical figure? Is this a serious question?” _

_ “... Yes.” _

And Chloe had told him no. She wouldn’t. But what she had neglected to tell him at the time was that, if he had asked, Chloe would have told him that she trusted Lucifer,  _ her partner _ , with her life. Implicitly and completely. Chloe hoped Lucifer already knew that. But that did little to settle the guilt that was churning over in her gut.

And now that Chloe found out that those two were the same, interchangeable, she didn’t know what to do with that information.

What did this even mean anymore? What does  _ any of this _ mean?

“Oh _god,_ ” Ella interrupted Chloe’s mental thought process, “I made the Devil go to _church_ … Am I even allowed to do that?”

It was just the suddenness of that statement. Chloe looked up and over to Ella, shock written on both of their faces, plain as day. Chloe gawked at Ella for a moment. And then she let out a chortle. The kind of laugh that unexpectedly escapes from your lips without your permission to do so. 

The wackiness, the unrelenting rollercoaster of emotional events that had happened today, finally broke Chloe. A constant stream of giggles broke loose, and the detective was crying again. It was from a mixture of exhaustion, relief, but mostly confusion. It seemed like Ella wasn’t that far behind the woman. Ella’s eyes crinkled with new tears as she started gigglesnorting, the kind the woman couldn’t do unless she was completely drunk. Chloe had only heard it once before.

And for those few minutes, it felt like everything was alright. But the moment ended just as quickly as Maze’s voice broke through the air.

“Please, don’t tell me you two have finally cracked. I don’t have the time  _ or _ energy to deal with your broken minds!” Maze shouted at them. And then she spoke quieter, her words less intended for them, and more for no one in particular. “Where is Linda when you need her?”

“I think we’re fine, Maze.” Chloe shouted back at her, surprised to find that her voice sounded much calmer than she felt. “We’re just… coping.”

Maze didn’t answer right away. And when she did, she didn’t sound convinced in the slightest. “... Okay, now I  _ definitely  _ need to call Linda.”

Once Chloe was sure that Ella wasn’t going to fall back into hysterics (anymore than the two had just done so), she went to rejoin Maze. Along the way back to the living room, she caught sight of Dan and Trixie, all packed up and ready to leave. Dan only paused in his exit to give Chloe one last glance of concern. Chloe recognized that look; it was an open invitation to come join them. But Chloe only shook her head; things still needed to be taken care of here.

Chloe barely recognized the sound of the front door closing as she caught sight of Lucifer on her couch. Maze was no longer crouching on her knees, looking down over him, something akin to a nurse looking over a wounded soldier. Now she was sprawled on the floor, her back pressed against the coffee table as she stared at him, her expression blank. Her phone was in her hand, left forgotten as her thumb hovered over Dr. Linda Martin’s contact number. Maze only briefly looked up at Chloe before turning her eyes back onto Lucifer.

And Lucifer was still… like he had been. Unconscious. Skin raw, red, and angry. Seeking it still sent a nervous flutter through Chloe. But there was something about seeing Lucifer passed out on her couch that made him seem less… threatening? No, that wasn’t quite the right word. Seeing Lucifer like this made it feel like this was rooted more into reality than something out of a horror movie. 

And Chloe could work in reality.

“Is he… uhm, is he okay?” Chloe asked once she had gathered up enough courage. She haphazardly motioned to Lucifer’s form before tucking both hands underneath her armpits.

And Chloe felt herself breathe a sigh of relief once Maze stiffly nodded her head.

“It’ll take more than a bottle of lukewarm water to take this idiot down.” Maze said, softly kicking one of Lucifer’s legs as she did so. If anything, it was an affectionate kick, if such a thing existed. 

Maze’s eyes flickered up and over the couch, and Chloe turned to see that Ella was skirting the edge of the room, hesitant to join the conversation. The other woman looked like a mouse caught in the act of stealing food, eyes wide with a mixture of uncertainty and a healthy dose of fear, and unable to move. Briefly, Chloe wondered if Ella would relapse back into hysterics.

Maze continued, unbothered by Ella’s reaction. “From what I can tell, the Holy Water basically overcharged him.”

“Like, a... battery?” Ella asked, taking another hesitant step forward.

“Got it in one, Lopez.” Maze said with another nod. “The idiot here short circuited, exactly like a battery. And like a battery that’s been overcharged… boom.” Maze said, even bringing up her hands to pantomime the explosion. “You guys were just unlucky enough to see what happens to Lucifer when you shove too much divine energy into his body without giving him enough time to acclimate. Add to that the millennia of being reforged and influenced by Hellfire, and you get one Big, Fat Mess. 

“If it was any other angel, you probably would have seen, like, the whole shebang.” Maze started to mumble. “Hundreds of glowing eyes, flaming wheels. You know, the kind of stuff that’d make a mortal’s eyeballs melt and turn your brains to mush.”

Chloe could only guess that there had been a growing look of horror on her face, because Maze couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head.

“I’m kidding, Decker. All that shit is fake.”

“... So if Lucifer is okay, then why does he look like this?” Chloe forced herself to ask. 

At this, Maze shrugged. “We’re not human, Decker. We don’t always have to look like it. It’d probably take too much energy, _which_ _he doesn’t have_ , to looking normal. Well, your normal.” She shrugged again and then motioned towards Lucifer. “I’m used to this.”

Chloe nodded, acting as if that made any sense. Chloe had a feeling that it would take her a while to get used to everything. She realized that she hadn’t fully gotten past the part where her partner,  _ her almost boyfriend _ , was the literal Devil. Yes, Chloe fully believed that she had gotten past her major freak out (although she’d have to see where she was mentally tomorrow). But now, it just felt like her brain was short circuiting.

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Maze’s words cut off Chloe’s train of thought. “Sit down, Decker. You look like you’re going to fall over any second. You too Lopez. You can take my room if you need to pass out.”

Chloe complied, taking the empty armchair. Ella didn’t seem to know what to do with herself, and she eventually ended up taking the footrest by the armchair Chloe had taken. Chloe could still see the tension in Ella’s shoulders, and how the forensic technician was sitting on the edge of the furniture. 

Maze finally stood up. She left briefly, only to head to the kitchen, and returned only to shove a bottle of wine into Chloe’s hands. Maze placed another bottle into Ella’s hands, and the technician stared at the bottle dumbfoundedly, some of the built up tension finally leaving her shoulders. And when Maze finally sat back down on the ground, haphazardly placing her feet up and over Lucifer’s legs, Chloe spotted her own bottle. Maze shrugged at Chloe’s questioning stare.

“What? I would’ve gotten you two glasses, but this feels more like a straight-from-the-bottle situation.” Maze said as she unceremoniously yanked the cork out of her own bottle and then chucked it behind her head.

And you know what? For once, Chloe agreed with her roommate. Chloe pulled the cork out of her own bottle and took a large swig out of the wine.

There was a bit of silence before Maze decidedly asked. “You’re not gonna freak out about me now, are you?”

Chloe shook her head. “Maze, I literally do not have the energy for another ‘freak out’. That being said, I’m asking you to not push me further. Because I do not know how much more I can take.”

“Fair enough. We can deal with the whole realization that God, Heaven, and Hell are all real tomorrow morning over breakfast.”

“ _ Maze _ .”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry, Decker.”

And fortunately, after that, the three were soon enveloped by blessed silence. Chloe’s mind was blank, thanks in part to exhaustion and the introduction of alcohol. With a quick glance at the nearby mounted clock, Chloe knew that it was close to midnight. And despite how exhausted Chloe felt, she knew that if she turned in for the night, she would not sleep a wink. Even if she could, Chloe could only guess of the nightmares that would plague her dreams.

(Chloe didn’t know if the nightmares would have been of her partner, or of the pain that she had unintentionally put her partner through. Either way, Lucifer’s screams in pain would haunt her dreams for weeks to come.)

Suddenly, the silence was interrupted. Once again, by Maze.

“He’s still the same person, you know.” Maze said through a tired sigh. “Now… now you guys just know more about him.” 

Chloe hoped that that was true. She nodded her head silently, and then Maze’s attention returned to her bottle. 

The hesitant peace and silence that had encompassed the three broke shortly after that. Not by Lucifer, who was still passed out. No, it was broken by what could only be headlights dancing across the walls as someone pulled into their driveway outside. Immediately Chloe stood up, leaning slightly to get a better look through the nearby window. The three waited in silence as the headlights were shut off, and then it was followed by the sound of a car door slamming shut.

A few seconds later, and there was a knock on their front door.

Chloe moved to open it, only to find that it was Dr. Linda Martin standing there, waiting patiently. The woman had obviously been in bed not too long ago, her face wiped clean of makeup and her blond hair loose and tousled from lounging. Linda was wearing a pair of ratty grey sweatpants and a loose fitting T-shirt. Under one of her arms was a blanket of all things, and poking out of the fabric’s folds was a bag of who knows what.

“Hello Chloe.” Linda greeted her, somewhat somberly. “I don’t usually make house calls. But I thought that under these circumstances, I should stop by.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead. Just overwhelmed. And horrible at writing conflict resolutions.  
> Also expect another chapter, because I'm so bad at ending things.


End file.
